- Sterling Bank’s FarePay Recognised for Relevance
Sterling Bank Plc’s contactless payment card for bus transit, FarePay, has been recognised for its utility relevance.
The bank said in a statement that FarePay won in the ‘Card with the Most Utility Relevance for the Cardholder’ category at the Digital Pay Expo Awards in Lagos recently.
It said the smart payment solution introduced by Sterling Bank eliminated challenges associated with BRT such as facing long queues to purchase a ticket or handling exact cash fares for a trip.
“FarePay cards are built on a contactless payment technology, with a connected bus validator system linked to the users’ bank account allowing passengers to ‘tap in and tap out’ of BRT buses with ease,” the statement said.
The Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Sterling Bank, Yemi Odubiyi, said FarePay was designed to ease the hassles associated with mass transit across Africa.
He said, “Barely a month after launch, we have facilitated over 30,000 trips within Lagos with the FarePay card, and we are looking to replicate this system across the continent.”
He thanked DigitalPay Expo for creating a platform that recognised and rewarded innovation in the Nigerian tech space, saying the two-day exhibition gave the Farepay team an opportunity to meet with some of the people the solution was designed for, while also offering technical support and educating users.
He stated that the FarePay cards were prepaid and reloadable through the user’s bank accounts and could be activated through an Automated Teller Machine or USSD.
According to him, card holders are no longer burdened with facing long queues for tickets or having to carry the exact fare for trips.
The Group Head, E-Business, Sterling Bank, Gbenga Adams, said FarePay was all about offering a convenient and flexible lifestyle for users.
According to him, before FarePay, there was nothing like it across Africa where card owners could load from as little as N500 to as much as N5m on a card, and have the exact value of the trip deducted each time they tapped in or out of a bus.
He described FarePay as a data-gathering tool, saying, “Each time a rider taps in or out of a bus, we are able to see routes and services that are more in demand, where we can deploy additional resources and how we can improve our services as a bank.”