Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies has rolled out Uber Cash in South Africa to encourage contactless payments amid the Covid-19 crisis.

“If you must travel, you now have even more cashless payment options,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Riders can now prepay for their upcoming trips with Uber Cash, creating a stress-free way to travel…”

Existing payment methods, including cash and cards, remain available. Uber Cash works for both rides and ordering through Uber Eats.

The system creates a payment account dedicated to both apps that can be preloaded with any amount, to be used on upcoming trips and orders.

The account can be topped up via the user’s Ride account and used when needed on both Uber and Uber Eats apps.

Top-ups are available and work similarly to topping up cellular airtime. However, unlike airtime, once the account has been loaded, credit won’t expiry.  — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media