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By Palesa Matlala
- Putco commuters in Gauteng will pay 10% more for bus fares from 1 June 2026 just months after the company’s previous increase.
- Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa says more commuters are flooding back to trains as families battle brutal fuel hikes and rising transport costs.
South African commuters are being crushed by never ending fuel hikes, soaring taxi fares and rising bus costs.
Now thousands of desperate workers are turning back to trains because travelling by road is becoming too expensive to survive.
Petrol prices exploded by R3.27 a litre on 6 May while diesel surged by a brutal R5.27 a litre.
And the pain is far from over.
More fuel hikes are expected next month, piling fresh pressure onto households already battling food prices, electricity costs and rent.
The transport crisis is spreading fast across the country.
Taxi operators across the Western Cape increased fares this week as fuel costs ripped through the industry.
Now Gauteng commuters are facing another blow.
Putco announced it will increase bus fares by 10% from 1 June 2026.
The increase comes just five months after commuters were hit by the company’s previous fare hike.
For struggling families, every trip to work is eating deeper into already stretched budgets.
Many commuters are now being forced to choose between transport and basic necessities.
Golden Arrow Bus Services in Cape Town also warned this week that pressure is mounting, although the company says it is still trying to avoid fare increases.
As road travel becomes more expensive, attention is shifting back to Cape Town’s battered rail system.
For years, Metrorail collapsed under vandalism, cable theft and crumbling infrastructure.
Train lines shut down. Stations became ghost towns. Angry commuters abandoned trains after years of delays, danger and chaos.
But Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) regional manager Raymond Maseko says the system is slowly recovering.
“We have increased our number of trains per day from 228 to about 314,” he said.
Several rail lines that were dead for years are now operating again as officials prepare for growing passenger numbers.
Maseko said Prasa plans to increase capacity on busy routes including Kraaifontein and Strand.
“We want to increase capacity by joining together two trains on that line,” he said.
Passenger numbers already started climbing sharply in April as commuters searched for cheaper transport.
Maseko warned that fuel hikes are becoming part of everyday life.
“These hikes are going to be a permanent feature of our landscape,” he said.
Prasa is also planning park and ride facilities at Fishhoek and Heathfield stations to attract more motorists back onto trains.
For millions of struggling commuters, trains are no longer just another option.
They are becoming the only affordable lifeline left.
Pictured above: Commuters are turning back to trains as fuel hikes, taxi fare increases and rising bus costs hammer South African households.
Image source: Prasa
