Kenya Railways has responded to complaints from passengers questioning how seats are assigned when booking the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Madaraka Express online.
The clarification comes after one traveller raised concern, saying that even when many seats are still available, online bookings often place passengers in the last coaches.
The passenger wondered why early bookings still end up in coaches 13 or 14, while other parts of the train appear to have empty seats.
“Why am I always booked on the last coaches when there are more than 700 seats in total? Is there any form of discrimination against those booking on the counter?” inquired one of the travellers.
In response to this question, the Kenya Railways explained that seats can be selected in various ways according to how a passenger purchases a ticket.
According to Kenya Railways, online ticket buyers receive automatic booking of the allocated seats. Nevertheless, travellers purchasing a ticket from the counter of a railway station have the chance to pick their own seats in particular cases such as booking first class and economy tickets.
Kenya Railways explained further that despite making the buying procedure easy through online booking, there is no provision for manually selecting the seats by the buyers.
According to the SGR booking system, passengers must use their ID or passport details in making an online purchase, make the payment via M-Pesa and finally receive their electronic ticket with allocated seats.
Every single coach holds 118 seats for economy ticket buyers, and for first class ticket buyers, a coach holds up to 72 passengers only.
As per Kenya Railways, seating is allocated according to seat availability during the booking process, which results in customers being seated in the last coaches upon booking through the online portal.
This is due to the way the system operates for making bookings effectively, according to the statement by the agency.
At the same time, passengers desiring a more personalized experience in choosing their seats can opt to book at the station instead.
