Cape Town – Golden Arrow will be increasing its passenger fares by an average of 6.2% as of December 30.
"The conditions of Golden Arrow’s interim operating contract with provincial government make provision for an annual adjustment to fares in order to mitigate the effects of significant operational cost increases throughout the year," Golden Arrow general manager Derick Meyer said on Tuesday.
"Over the last 12 months, the diesel price has increased by just under 11% while nationally determined wages increased by 8%.
"Golden Arrow has strengthened its robust and innovative cost-saving measures across our operations, but these have unfortunately not been enough to avoid the fare increase.
"Golden Arrow understands the difficult economic climate in which South Africans find themselves and we empathise with our passengers who will be affected by the increase.
"We have therefore kept the increase lower than what would be required to offset actual operational expenses.
"Multi-journey products will increase by an average of 6.99%, while cash fares will increase by an average of 4.23%. Pensioner and selected off-peak fares will remain unchanged.
"Despite escalating costs, Golden Arrow believes that passengers deserve the highest quality service offerings and we have therefore purchased 60 new vehicles over the 2019 calendar year at a cost of approximately R132 million.
"The motivation for the fare increase was presented to the company’s passenger forums at their end of year function on 16 November, 2019 and the members all understood and accepted that there was no other option but to adjust fares. No objections were raised.
"Passengers can postpone paying the increased fares until 14 January, 2020 in the case of 10-ride multi-journey products (which are valid for 17 days) bought on 29 December, 2019 and until 9 February, 2020 in the case of monthly multi-journey products (valid for 43 days) bought on the same date.
"Golden Arrow remains committed to providing our passengers with safe and reliable services and despite the increase, bus travel remains a viable public transport alternative to travelling by private vehicle."
New fares can be obtained from the Transport Information Centre on 0800 65 64.