Passengers who use BRT buses in Nairobi will have to pay a flat rate of Sh. 150 per trip. This is according to the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Namata) acting director-general Francis Gitau.

Gitau said that this fare will be charged on the first lane that will be from Kasarani to Kenyatta National Hospital. “The fares will be charging is Sh. 150 along the Kasarani-Kenyatta National Hospital line that we hope to start operating come June on a pilot basis,” said Gitau. “In the pilot, the fare will be standard. However, the fare policy for the system will be in zones which are distance-based.”

This comes barely days after the government announced that diesel and petrol buses will not be used on the multi-billion Nairobi BRT system.

According to Housing and Urban Development Principal Secretary Charles Hinga, only electric and some hybrid vehicles, which use a mixture of electric and fossil fuel and those that use biofuels like hydrogen and biogas, will be deployed on the dedicated lane for large-capacity buses to ease traffic congestion. “We want to lead from the front when it comes to (fight against) climate change. We have an opportunity to move from rhetoric to actualizing this aspiration,” Hinga told a local daily.

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According to Gitau, passengers using the BRT buses in Nairobi along various corridors within Nairobi Metropolitan Area will use a special toll payment card to access the route. He also added that passengers will be given a card loaded with points that they can tap at termini’s situated along each corridor before they can take a ride. “BRT will be cashless. There will be a card that will also integrate commuter rail payment. Methods of topping up include normal M-Pesa playbill or you simply go to a designated vendor,” said Hinga.