Ghanaians will soon pay ‘trotro’ fare electronically

Do you ever think Ghana will get to a point where the bus fare will be paid electronically?

It may be sooner than you expect.

Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr Maxwell Opoku Afari has indicated that patrons of the commercial vehicle “tro-tro,” would pay their transportation fare via digital means after the passage of Payment System and Service Bill by Parliament.

Dr Opoku Afari was speaking at a symposium held at the University of Ghana on the topic Innovative Financial Service for Business and SME’s Development.

He explained that the Bill when passed, will ensure that traditional payments are done digitally thereby reducing queues in the banking halls.

“If you are going to board a tro-tro all you need to do is just ask for the mobile money number of the driver, then you transfer the payment.”

“This innovation will curtail the occasional scuffle between passengers and conductors over few Cedis change.”

“Last year, we organised a stakeholders forum to discuss and review the Electronic Management Guidelines and Payment System Act and consolidated it into one piece of legislation which is now called the Payment System and Services bill. We have met the economic management team to make a case for the passage of the bill,” he mentioned.

He mentioned that the general public has shown interest in recent innovative ways of using technology to transact business.

He explained that even though formal banking was introduced in Ghana over 60 years ago only 11.4 million out of the about 28 million Ghanaians had bank accounts.

However, after the institution of electronic money issuance guidelines in 2015, over 23 million people now have mobile money accounts “if we consider that as an account”.

“The institution of electronic money issuance guidelines, the payment system in 2015 which sought to promote and supervise electronic and other payments, will help in the fund's transfer, clearing and settlement systems and has helped the Telecom’s to collaborate with banks to provide financial service to people especially SMEs.”

“The high prevalence of mobile phones and other electronic devices have made it convenient to expand access to financial services across the country,” he argued.