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The telco said special till numbers will be allocated to public service vehicle (PSV) operators to allow commuters make payments without incurring transaction charges.

“We are currently also looking at entrenching the use of M-Pesa within public transport sector,” said Nzioka Waita, Safaricom’s director of corporate affairs.

Mr Waita did not give timelines for the planned service that will be rolled out under the Lipa Na M-Pesa scheme.

Safaricom is seeking to raise earnings from the multi-billion-shilling matatuindustry where PSV owners will pay the telco a commission of one per cent based on the value of each transaction.

The new service will see it target about 22,052 PSV licensed operators in Kenya, according to data from the Traffic Licensing Board.

The mobile-based fare payment solution will compete with Equity Bank and Google’s BebaPay, a pre-paid plastic card used to settle public transport bills.