Despite the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), making travel to and from Mombasa easier and faster, booking a ticket on the train has been as elusive as trying to catch a chicken that’s your dinner.
Currently, there are only two ways that you can book a ticket. The first is by physically showing up to the station or by the very cumbersome process that involves calling their customer care number, reserving a ticket and paying via M-Pesa. But then, their customer care number doesn’t always go through so you still have to physically go to the train station to buy a ticket. On top of that,the ticket format is quite vague as it doesn’t show the name and ID number of the ticket holder
Imagine if you had to physically go to JKIA a few days before your trip to buy a ticket. That’s how ridiculous this SGR thing is.
— igiriwM@ (@Mwirigi) August 1, 2017
The mess at SGR keeps getting ridiculous by the day really.. pic.twitter.com/3Sxck5w8ph
— Vionna (@Kurlycheeks) August 4, 2017
I’m not bothering with SGR until they have a ticketing system.
— Daniel Ngugi (@Daniel_Ngugi) August 3, 2017
Both ways. You go to JKIA, they tell you, that to get a return you visit the return airport
— Gatwiri (@RookieKE) August 1, 2017
Kenya Railways promised Kenyans an online platform by 12th June 2017 that would allow them to buy and book their tickets online.
Kenya Railways will unveil a new online ticket payment platform on Monday June 12, 2017 to ensure convenience in travel for all customers. pic.twitter.com/4MRAvoB3Bz
— #MadarakaExpress (@SGR_Kenya) June 7, 2017
Well, 12th June came and went, and there was still no online booking platform.
There was a website available, but it wasn’t an official Kenya Railways (KR) website. The developers were an independent company with a trial version that hopefully the team at KR would adopt.
Who owns @train_kenya? I’m on @KenyaRailways_ site but can’t find any redirecting link to it yet it’s the official @SGR_Kenya ticket vendor pic.twitter.com/FrBwCl5rzt
— Komen S.K (@skkomen) July 4, 2017
Hallo Komen, thanks for your inquiry. We are seeking to offer the service. We will let you know in-case we get the go ahead.
— Train Tickets Kenya (@train_kenya) July 4, 2017
So you’re an independent ticket vendor seeking to be given the ticket booking tender by the @SGR_Kenya and @KenyaRailways_?
— Komen S.K (@skkomen) July 4, 2017
Yes, we are independent.
— Train Tickets Kenya (@train_kenya) July 4, 2017
Thanks for the clarification. So who authorizes your tickets or rather who authenticates them? forgive my ignorance 😉
— Komen S.K (@skkomen) July 4, 2017
We aren’t doing any ticket sales at the moment. Our the system is set, awaiting approval. Meanwhile we are working on the site’s look & feel
— Train Tickets Kenya (@train_kenya) July 4, 2017
Some Kenyans took advantage of the disorganized process and started offering a unique service where they buy and book the ticket for you and deliver it to your doorstep. The idea is great, but these services aren’t regulated and this where it becomes a travesty. The brokers buy tickets early and in bulk which inadvertently creates a shortage then re-sell the tickets at very inflated prices.
@Angelamukii I baffled by the experience last week. Tickets for Sat on sale from Wed only but sold out by 8am Wed ?!?!?!!!!
— Lynda J (@lyndhurst2001) August 1, 2017
Yep, my friends and I unfortunately had to buy tickets at 1750 for economy from a broker because return tickets were sold out by 7am smh
— Valar Morghulis (@KinsSonnie) August 1, 2017
Getting SGR ticket right now is a HUSTLE, Mayhem then the economy ticket going at 1200/- almost double the introductory price of 700/-
— Kenya West© (@KinyanBoy) August 4, 2017
Others sympathised with KR, saying that SGR was still new and Kenyans should be patient.
Why are people complaining? SGR is a good addition to our country. Be patient y’all it will take a while before it becomes perfect.
— ELLE (@ChantellePetit) August 2, 2017
But guys it was a Ksh. 327 billion shilling project! With that kind of money, the system should’ve been seamless from day one.
With over 300B spent on The SGR and no planning was done on ticketing? All I see are knee-jerk reactions to ticketing. Unbelievable!
— Bezalel ?? (@hilum) August 3, 2017
If you cannot afford to buy the ticket from them, then you have to be up really early and get to the train station to buy a ticket.
My friend @limentuga sent this clip of the queue @KenyaRailways_ Syokimau Station today. God bless her, @SGR_Kenya ticketing is madness! pic.twitter.com/Qfzg8prnOQ
— Muthuri Kinyamu (@MuthuriKinyamu) August 3, 2017
SGR Mombasa Terminus, 7.20am.
Got here at 6.30 and there was around 300 people already queuing to buy Saturday tickets. pic.twitter.com/FzM0oCAAhm— Ndei Tony (@sideword) August 2, 2017
Kenya Railways assured Kenyans that from next Wednesday, the tickets will bear the name and ID of the ticket holder in order to knock out the middlemen who re-sell the tickets at inflated prices.
The problems SGR are having could be due to the fact that the launch was premature. Going by their tweets, they were set to be operational in January 2018.
commercial operations start in January 2018.
— Kenya Railways (@KenyaRailways_) March 20, 2017
Whatever the case might be, they need to get their act together and come up with an online ticketing platform because they’re giving Kenyans a raw deal.