I

ntan Nirmala Sari, 24, finds she has barely any cash in her wallet almost every morning, but that does not stop her from paying for her daily commute to her office in Jakarta.

A loyal customer of homegrown courier and ride-hailing mobile application Go-Jek, Intan is pleased by the arrival of Go-Pay, an online payment service offered by Go-Jek that allows a user’s balance to be used to pay for various services, including taxis, food deliveries, shopping and body-care services.

“I enjoy this kind of payment service as I am more of a less-cash type of person,” she said.

Like Intan, many urbanites are becoming more cashless and Go-Jek is jumping on the bandwagon by teaming up with banks that have wide customer bases to enable non-cash transactions for its services.

Participating banks include BCA, Bank Mandiri and BRI, so customers of those banks can transfer funds directly into their Go-Pay accounts and then use the funds to pay for any Go-Jek services, including Go-Ride, Go-Food, Go-Send, Go-Mart, Go-Massage and Go-Clean.

This latest payment trend is in line with the government and the central bank’s drive for a “cashless society” in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, a scenario where people are fully accustomed to non-cash transactions. Currently, around 70 percent of transactions in Indonesia are still conducted using cash, as opposed to just 50 percent in some neighboring countries.

“Paying for a Go-Jek through Go-Pay is cheaper than by cash, especially because it offers discounts and enables me to use Go-Jek services even if I don’t have enough cash in my purse,” said Christine Nababan, 32, a Jakarta resident who uses Go-Jek on a daily basis for her work commute in the heavily congested capital city.

She enjoys discounts of up to 50 percent that Go-Jek offers to customers who pay through the Go-Pay app, the balance of which can be easily topped-up through BCA, Mandiri and BRI ATMs, as well as online and via other payment transfer channels.

BCA vice president director Armand W. Hartono said customers should notice a quicker and easier payment experience thanks to the partnership agreement on Go-Pay top-ups signed earlier this week between BCA and Go-Jek.

“Go-Jek’s customers and drivers will only need a company code and their mobile phone numbers to navigate the top-up process via the transfer option on BCA’s Virtual Account menu,” Armand said.

BCA is also providing Go-Jek with integrated host-to-host payment solutions to enable easier settlement of funds between the company’s and drivers’ bank accounts.

Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim said the company decided to enhance Go-Pay, previously called Go-Jek Credit, as part of a long-term effort to ensure a sustained and consistent good experience for its customers.

No figures are immediately available on the number of Go-Pay users, but the Go-Jek application has been downloaded more than 11 million times, Bloomberg reports.

Many urbanites are accustomed to non-cash transactions, but others are still not too keen on the idea.

“For me, paying for a Go-Jek in cash is easier than by Go-Pay, because it would take time to top up my balance,” said Surya Rianto, 25, who still feels reluctant to use the Go-Pay facility because he sees himself as a “conservative” person in terms of digital technology use.