It is often cheaper to use the Gautrain than to drive to your destination, but not always.
Gauteng’s rail service recently launched a new 50% KlevaMova discount on tickets for specific categories of customers who may not be able to afford the train’s normal fares.
This, therefore, raises the question of whether this new, cheaper service makes the Gautrain considerably more affordable for residents than driving.
Before we can answer that, it’s important to clarify who is eligible for the discounted tickets, which includes the following:
- Scholars
- Pensioners
- Students under the age of 25
- Recipients of the South African Social Security Agency’s disability grant
- Individuals living in households with a combined annual income of under R350,000
Barring situational conditions like scholars and pensioners, the most relevant category identified is households with a combined income of less than R350,000.
This means we need to choose a car that a person could reasonably afford on such an income in order to effectively compare the cost of the discounted Gautrain to driving.
An annual salary of R350,000 works out to approximately R29,167, which drops to R24,423 after personal income tax is deducted.
In South Africa, financial experts generally advise that individuals do not spend more than 20% of their monthly income on vehicle instalments, which means our post-tax salary of R24,423 gives us a car finance budget of R4,884 per month.
This is assuming the person takes out a 72-month payment plan with no deposit and an interest rate of 12%, since it’s highly unlikely that they will receive the prime lending rate of 10.75%.
With these parameters in mind, a person can only afford a vehicle that costs less than R250,000, of which there are a few notable options.
One likely choice is the Toyota Vitz, which is the cheapest car in South Africa right now with a starting price of R178,800.
The Vitz is one of the most popular vehicles in the country, and it also has a frugal 1.0-litre petrol engine that claims to average around 4.4l./100km.
However, since it’s very rare for motorists to consistently hit the manufacturer-claimed fuel consumption figure, it’s more reasonable to assume that a person will get roughly 5.0l/100km.
It depends on the route
TopAuto calculated the cost of using the Gautrain for a month compared to driving a small hatchback like the Toyota Vitz.
For the Vitz, the cost of fuel was calculated based on June’s official rate of R21.24 per litre for petrol 93.
This is not the only cost to consider, mind you, as maintenance is a factor that shouldn’t be overlooked.
The South African Revenue Service estimates that cars under R300,000 accumulate roughly 65c per kilometre of driving in the form of maintenance that will need to be done at some point, which we added to our driving cost calculations.
As for the Gautrain, the KlevaMova discount is available on monthly-trip products, which covers 44 trips over 44 days – enough for a person commuting both ways 21 days per month.
The catch is that residents still need to get to and from the station, which requires the use of the Gautrain bus service.
There is currently no discount for the bus, which charges R13 per trip during peak hours.
In total, the bus will add R572 to the cost of using the public transport service for a month.
These were the final results for the Gautrain and car options for various distances:
| Route | Gautrain & bus fare | Toyota Vitz petrol & running cost |
|---|---|---|
| Hatfield <-> Midrand | R1,956 | R1,864 |
| Hatfield <-> Sandton | R2,293 | R2,474 |
| Hatfield <-> Rosebank | R2,424 | R2,850 |
| Hatfield <-> Park | R2,555 | R3,173 |
| Centurion <-> Midrand | R1,470 | R1,281 |
| Centurion <-> Sandton | R1,994 | R1,969 |
| Centurion <-> Rosebank | R2,068 | R2,345 |
| Centurion <-> Park | R2,199 | R2,667 |
| Midrand <-> Sandton | R1,470 | R751 |
| Midrand <-> Rosebank | R1,600 | R640 |
| Midrand <-> Park | R1,676 | R722 |
The results were rather mixed, as the Gautrain proved to be cheaper on five of the 11 routes highlighted.
In general, it appears that it is cheaper to use a car for shorter trips, whereas the Gautrain offers better value for longer journeys.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from this exercise is that the bus service significantly adds to the cost of using the Gautrain, which is why its appeal is mainly limited to people who don’t live far from a station to begin with.
This is one of the main reasons why the province wants to expand the Gautrain’s infrastructure to new areas, widening its appeal to users other than those who need to travel from one major hub to the next.
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