Kenya’s Easy Taxi finally introduces cashless payment method

Since Uber made inroads into Africa’s market two years ago, alternative taxi startups have been trying to find new ways to compete with the major multinational company. In addition to cash and M-pesa, Easy Taxi passengers in Kenya can now use credit and debit cards as payment methods.

“Easy Taxi is excited to provide customers with the option of paying for their rides using their credit/debit cards. With this new mode of payment, we hope to further enhance our customer’s convenience and overall experience,” said Lauren Gray, marketing director at Easy Taxi.

Backed by the public German incubator, Rocket Internet, and its local arm Africa Internet Group, Easy Taxi was launched in Brazil in 2011. The company today operates in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It says that it has a global network of over 400 000 drivers and 17 million passengers.

Read more: Global startup Easy Taxi bags $40-million in funding

To ensure that all transactions made with Easy Taxi are safe and secure, Easy Taxi is working with Amsterdam-based payment services company Adyen, to process the credit and debit transactions. Adyen is a licensed acquirer of Visa and MasterCard, adhering to the security for both card companies.

According to the presser, some Kenyan banks have not enabled online payments for their card holders but it should work with most major suppliers.

Speaking to Uber Lagos earlier this month, general manager Ebi Atawodi confirmed to Ventureburn that there are discussions of underway of introducing mobile money as a payment method in certain African cities like Kenya, which is very reliant on M-pesa.

Uber launched in Kenya at the beginning of this year, competing with the likes of Easy Taxi and Maramoja. It’s going to be interesting to see how this competition pans out.

Image via Pulsosocial