Golden Arrow to hike fares by 6.95%

Golden Arrow Bus Services is expected to increase bus fares by 6.95% across the board from Tuesday December 27.

Hikes in the price of diesel throughout the year, coupled with wage increases and the rising cost of parts, has made the fare increase unavoidable, according to Golden Arrow’s general manager, Derick Meyer.

The year had seen sharp increases across every level of Golden Arrow’s supply chain, he said.

“We will therefore unfortunately be implementing a 6.95% average across-the-board increase on all cash and multi-journey products (formerly known as clip cards).”

The service’s Golden Cards, a once-off purchase, would, however, remain R35, he said.

The decision had been a hard one, and the increase was much lower than what was needed to offset cost increases, he said.

“Golden Arrow has worked tirelessly to identify and increase efficiencies across our operations, and we will continue to focus on exploiting all cost-saving opportunities available to us. We remain acutely aware that our passengers find themselves in the same difficult economic climate as we do.”

Passengers can postpone paying the increased fares until Wednesday January 25 in the case of 10-ride multi-journey products (which are valid for 30 days) bought on Monday December 26 and until Sunday March 26 in the case of 48-ride multi-journey products (valid for 90 days) bought on the same date.

Mr Meyer advised passengers to buy the Gold Arrow Gold Card and load weekly or monthly products instead of paying cash to access savings. The weekly and monthly products are sold at a discount of up to 45%.