CAPE TOWN Commuters will feel the pinch of the recent fuel hike as the Golden Arrow Bus Services has announced increased bus fares.
This comes after the fuel hike that happened on Wednesday, 6 September.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the popular bus company said they would increase their fares by 2.7 per cent to offset operational cost increases.
"Unfortunately, rising operational input costs, such as fuel, and a legacy of implementing fare increases much lower than industry inflation has placed significant strain on the company's ability to provide the level of services that our passengers expect and deserve," spokeswoman Bronwen Dyke-Beyer.
"In addition to this, contractual rates paid by the Government have also decreased in real terms. As such, we will implement an average fare increase of 2.7% on 18 September 2023. The pricing of pensioner's products will not increase," she said.
Many trips have increased with R1. For instance, a cash trip from Cape Town is currently R46 but will increase to R47 on the 18th. A Cape Town to Khayelitsha journey trip of R39 will increase to R40.
Santaco chairperson Mandla Hermanus said they have not yet decided to increase fares in response to fuel price increases.
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"As Santaco in the province, we have noted the increase in fuel prices, especially the price of diesel, which has increased by over R2 per litre, but we have not decided on whether our association will review the fares. As a rule, we do normally adjust our prices in relation to the fluctuations of the price of fuel," Hermanus said.
He said they normally review their prices once a year, sometimes once every second year, but it varies from association to association.
"At the moment, our prices will remain as they are, but we will monitor the situation. Should there be further increases in the cost of fuel, then we might have to relook at our prices as well, but for now, our prices remain as they are," said Hermanus.
Busiswa Galatya (34) from Khayelitsha said the increase looks small, but it will hit hard on the little money she gets.
"I get less than R6000 every month. I run on a very tight budget, and taking away even R100 from my budget affects me. I think they should have waited and see if the fuel isn't going down soon," she said.
