Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) passengers can now book and pay for travel tickets online. Through the portal (metickets.krc.co.ke), passengers will be able to select their preferred type of train, starting station, destination, travel date, coach type, number of passengers travelling and passenger details such as name, gender and seat number.
They will then key in payment options, after which they will receive a transaction confirmation message via their cellphones with an option to check the ticket status online.
“This is a positive move for passengers who have been calling upon the Corporation to diversify the booking options. The SMS system of booking SGR passenger train have been very hectic. This is due to high demand and frequent breakdown of the platform,” said Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina.
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The booking website will enable passengers to book tickets 30 days in advance unlike before where they could only book 14 days prior to travel date. However, group bookings, consisting of more than 20 passengers, must be made 32 days to the date of travel.
In the past, passengers could only book by paying cash at the ticketing offices in Nairobi or Mombasa terminus.
The ticket featured a travel date and time but no name. They also contained travel class, carriage and seat numbers.
An economy class ticket has been going at Ksh700 while first class ticket goes for Ksh3,000. (additional reporting by Business Daily)
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