Once a motorist identifies a parking slot, they will then be required to pay via SMS/FILE
The project dubbed Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment platform (EBPP) was launched by the City Council of Nairobi on Koinange Street on Wednesday. The project will run for three months before it is spread out to other parts of the city.
“Parking is going electronic. That means that now you are not going to have a city council employee coming to you and taking money then giving you the receipt,” explained Gideon Omodho, the project’s consultant.
Once a motorist identifies a parking slot, they will then be required to pay via SMS.
“You need to open a new SMS page on your phone and type in this command; Register* ID Number*First Name* last Name, and send it to 3032. You will get a response containing a PIN Number.”
The next step involves registration of the vehicle.
“Open another SMS page and type in; add car*number plate number*private car* PIN Number then send it again to 3032. A response will come up that, ‘car added successfully’,” he stated.
The third step is where the motorist will then pay for the parking.
“Type in another command; pay*park*plate number * location (on street, off-street, outside CBD or inside council markets)* duration (1 day, 1 month or 3 months)* PIN number.” For yuMobile subscribers, a response will confirm that the parking fee has been accepted.
“If one is not on the yuMobile service provider, they will follow the above step up to where they will input the ‘duration’. After sending this, they will receive a code with which they will go to a yuCash point to pay for their parking,” he said.
Yu customers started enjoying full automation on Wednesday while customers from other networks will enjoy automation before the end of the week.
Omodho further pointed out that customers on other networks will be able to use the semi automated system by paying through a cash agent system where a car park attendant will pay on behalf of the customers into the system.
“When you want to pay you either have to have value in the E-Wallet of City council or you have to have value in the other network service providers mobile money systems,” he explained.
Nairobi Town Clerk Roba Duba lauded the initiative saying that it will increase council revenues and reduce corrupt tendencies.
“Money is defined as something that brings pleasure closer and takes pain further and anybody will be desirous of getting that kind of commodity. If he has a way of getting money that is not his and can do so without getting caught, anybody can be tempted and that is what we want to avoid,” he stated.
