Every weekday morning, long before the first lesson begins, thousands of students across Kampala begin a different kind of lesson.
They leave home before sunrise carrying books, lunch and transport fare. They navigate crowded taxi stages, sit through slow-moving traffic and hope they reach school before the gates close. Their parents begin the day with their own concerns. Did they leave home on time? Did they find transport? Have they arrived safely?
For students attending day schools, the journey to school is part of everyday life. It shapes the start of each school day just as much as the timetable waiting in the classroom.
Technology is now helping make that journey safer, simpler and easier to manage.
At Kololo Senior Secondary School, MTN Uganda, E-Bus Xpress and Sparklab Technologies have introduced the Y’ello Booth, a smart cashless student transport solution that combines digital payments, student identity and real-time journey updates on one platform.
Students receive a smart NFC wristband that they tap when boarding and leaving an E-Bus Xpress bus. Parents subscribe to transport packages using MTN MoMo through the USSD code *272*80#. They can choose daily, weekly, monthly or termly subscriptions, while receiving notifications that confirm when their child boards and completes the journey.
The result is a transport experience that removes the need for students to carry cash and gives parents greater confidence throughout the school day.
Speaking during the launch, MTN Uganda’s General Manager for the Enterprise Business Unit, Ibrahim Senyonga, said the initiative responds to challenges that many families experience every day.
“Today is not just about launching a new service. It is about making your everyday school journey safer, reliable, smarter and easier.”
He noted that students often contend with long waits for transport and the need to carry cash, while parents are left wondering whether their children have arrived safely.
“We all know the challenges students face today. Long waits for transport, the need to carry cash, and for parents, the worry of not always knowing whether their children have arrived safely. That is exactly why MTN, together with E-Bus Xpress and Sparklab, has come up with this solution called the Y’ello Booth.”
The platform addresses several everyday challenges facing students, parents and transport providers. Students no longer need to carry transport money. Parents gain greater visibility over their children’s journeys while managing transport expenses through structured subscriptions. Transport operators benefit from faster fare collection and a more efficient boarding process.
Accessibility has also been central to the design of the platform. Parents can use either smartphones or feature phones to manage transport payments and subscriptions, ensuring the service remains available to families regardless of the device they own.
John Isabirye, Key Account Manager at MTN Uganda, said the solution builds on payment habits that many families already use.
“Many parents already use MoMo to pay school fees, and today we are extending that convenience by making school transport fully cashless.”
He added that the platform also gives parents greater control over household planning.
“This initiative empowers parents to better plan and manage their finances, while ensuring their children’s transport is handled in a safe, reliable and structured way.”
The partnership brings together complementary strengths. MTN Uganda provides the commercial platform and payment enablement through MoMo while supporting interoperability across MTN MoMo and Airtel Money. Sparklab Technologies developed the Y’ello Booth platform, manages student enrolment, operates the parent engagement platform and issues the NFC wristbands. E-Bus Xpress operates the electric buses, manages routes and schedules, and delivers the transport service.
For E-Bus Xpress, the launch represents the beginning of a broader effort to modernise student mobility across Uganda.
Addressing students during the launch, Eng. Ian John Kavuma, E-Bus Xpress’s Managing Director described the initiative as the start of a larger transformation.
“You are the first group of students to experience what we believe will become the new standard for school mobility across Uganda. This launch at Kololo Senior Secondary School is the beginning of a national journey to transform how students move, pay and experience public transport.”
The company is currently providing dedicated student transport services during the pilot period, allowing students to experience the service before the full subscription packages take effect.
Kololo Senior Secondary School is one of the first schools participating in the pilot alongside Kitante Primary School. Together, the programme is expected to serve approximately 300 daily student commuters. Following the pilot, the partners plan to expand the platform to additional schools across the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area before scaling nationally.
The long-term vision is to create a connected student transport ecosystem that links schools, parents and transport operators through one digital platform. The system has been designed to support multiple schools, multiple transport routes and future national deployment.
The initiative also reflects the growing role of digital services in solving practical challenges faced by Ugandan families. School transport has traditionally depended on cash payments, changing fares and limited communication between parents and transport providers. Digital tools now offer a practical way to improve safety, simplify payments and strengthen confidence throughout the school journey.
For students at Kololo Senior Secondary School, the school run will still begin early. Kampala’s traffic will continue to test commuters, and rainy mornings will remain part of the routine.
The difference is that parents now have greater visibility into a journey that has often depended on trust alone. A simple tap of a wristband confirms that a child has boarded the bus, arrived safely and is ready for the day ahead.
Every school day begins with a journey. Through the Y’ello Booth, that journey is becoming safer, more connected and better suited to the needs of today’s students and their families.
