KAYAK EMEA, the company that manages Cheapflights.co.za, has revealed that it has added buses to its core search after data from the Bus Price Index showed an average 112% increase in bus searches in South Africa over 2022 compared to the previous year.
According to Cheapflights.co.za, this increase in bus searches may be due to travellers realising the cost-savings implications of using buses as their mode of transport over car or SA’s failing railway systems.
“In South Africa, passengers can make their way round for less than R37 per 100km, despite an increase of 50% on some routes this year. Bus ticket prices from Johannesburg to Cape Town start from around R600, or a ticket from Durban to Johannesburg starts from around R400,” said Cheapflights.co.za.
The travel search site said these prices compare favourably against the cost of one or two tanks of petrol and toll fees if one drives to Cape Town or Durban.
According to KAYAK EMEA’s general manager, Laure Bornet, buses are a good alternative for budget-conscious travellers because of this.
“While a road journey may take longer, it is a good chance to sit and relax, and to avoid the chaos of airports, especially over the high travel season. To assist travellers in finding the best money-saving deals and offer them more transportation options to choose from for getting from point A to point B, Cheapflights has added buses to its core search,” said Bornet.
CheckMyBus CEO, Marc Hofmann, also added that growing energy costs also pushed bus prices up in 2022 and bus travel still seems to remain by far the cheapest mode of transportation.