Commuters boarding the city’s IPTS bus system will have to pay R8 from Wednesday after the Nelson Mandela Bay council approved a fare increase.
It previously cost R5 to use the service.
Fifty-eight councillors voted in support of a fare increase while 54 councillors from the DA and ACDP voted against the increase. The EFF abstained from the voting.
In a report tabled by mayor Mongameli Bobani in council on Tuesday, roads and transport executive director Walter Shaidi wrote that the current fare of R5 was creating unfair competition in the area.
“Currently with the existing fares, [there is] a significant deficit between direct vehicle operating costs and fare revenue that has been realised.
“It is thus proposed that this deficit can be significantly reduced if the feeder route fares can be adjusted upwards from R5 to R8.”
Shaidi noted that the fare increase was necessary because the service needed to be sustainable and generate the highest possible revenue.
“The fare revenue is required to cover [costs], to the greatest extent possible,” Shaidi wrote.
He wrote that the fares should be established at such a level that while the system was efficient and safe, it was generally affordable to all income groups.
Shaidi said the aim was to ensure that the fare remained lower than the fare charged by taxis and Algoa bus operators.
Taxi fares in the area are R12 at present.
The fare increase comes as the system continues to run at a loss, with a deficit of R1.9m for August.
Shaidi wrote that with the increase in fares, the city would cut its losses to an anticipated deficit of R484,061.
Patriotic Alliance councillor Marlon Daniels said he abstained from voting because he did not agree with the proposed increase.
“This item was vested. These increases have been coming for a long time.
“We have known that they will happen because the IPTS is running at a loss.
“I am concerned because R3 is a lot for people. In some spaza shops if you take the R6 for the return trip you can get bread,” Daniels said.
He said the opposition councillors were lying when they said the coalition government was responsible for the fare increase.
“The DA is not being considerate,” Daniels said.
EFF councillor Zilindile Vena said it abstained from voting because it had proposed that only one of the route fares be increased.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom, who voted against the fare increase, said those in support of it were oppressing the poor.
“The ACDP feels that the rate of the increase will have a negative impact on poor people,” Grootboom said.
DA councillor Rano Kayser said the increase went against the DA’s intention of bringing reliable affordable transport.