Fuel price increase drives up Golden Arrow fares
GOLDEN Arrow Bus Services yesterday announced it would be increasing fares as of December 25.
The bus giant said it intended to increase fares by 7% and said the decision was informed by soaring fuel prices.
“Over the last 12 months, the diesel price has increased by 12%, while the nationally determined wages increased by 9%. These two cost items make up approximately 74% of Golden Arrow’s total costs. This is further compounded by the cumulative shortfall in funds from the Division of Revenue Act subsidy allocation, which has not been in line with the contracted escalation rate,” Golden Arrow spokesperson Bronwen Dyke-Beyer said.
“A decision to increase bus fares is never taken lightly or without careful consideration, but in this case it is simply unavoidable.
“We have, however, done everything possible to minimise the impact on our passengers by keeping the increase as low as possible and by excluding pensioner fares and most off-peak fares.”
This means that passengers travelling from Bellville to Cape Town pay R25.70, up from R24, a trip. And for monthly users, they now have to cough up R10.90, up from R10.17, a trip.
Meanwhile, Metrorail has lifted the suspension of the Khayelitsha, Kapteinsklip and Bishop Lavis lines after its technical teams managed to repair the 23 track boxes that had been destroyed.
However, Metrorail said that a full recovery was not yet possible.
“Recovery teams worked non-stop to repair, replace and protect the repairs under the threatening presence of vandals patrolling the area near Bontheuwel where they worked.” Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said.
Earlier this week, Metrorail was forced to suspend all its central train services due to extreme vandalism.
Regional manager Richard Walker said teams were often traumatised by the constant hovering of individuals who brazenly started digging up cables not far from where repairs were being done; only to scatter temporarily when confronted by armed guards.