Uber, a global taxi-hailing app service company, will start testing a cash payment option in South African cities from May 26. If successful, it says this will make the service available to those without debit or credit cards.

Alon Lits, Uber’s sub-Saharan Africa general manager, told Bloomberg  on Friday that the company had partnered with FirstRand Ltd.’s retail bank, FNB, to allow its 4,000 drivers in four cities — Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth — to regularly deposit cash fares and avoid carrying large sums.

Only a few new users will be able to access the cash option when they sign up.

“We need to assess if it is successful or not‚ so it is not going to be available to 100 percent of people‚ ” Lits said, adding that he doesn’t believe cash payments will increase the security fro Uber drivers.

Uber already accepts cash payments in Kenya, Nigeria and Singapore. It saw an increase in revenue in these countries.

Like many other African countries, credits card penetration is still very low in South Africa, although the country is faring much better than Nigeria and Kenya.

“Offering cash as an alternate option has proven to be very successful for Uber. The introduction of cash in Singapore‚ for example‚ had an extremely positive response and this is a country that has a substantial credit card penetration and very high GDP per capita‚” Times Live quoted Lits as saying.

Uber is considering expanding its service in South Africa to Bloemfontein and increasing the number of drivers to 15,000, Bloomberg reported.

It recently announced a reduction of its fares  in the country by about 20 percent during the winter season in an attempt to increase demand during the period.

The company has also started to license its driver in South Africa as metered operators to comply with a new law and reduce animosity from other traditional taxi associations in the cities it operates.

The San Francisco-based tech company, which already operates in five African countries, announced that it will launch in three more markets on the continent – Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana — this year.