Cheaper Gautrain tickets vs driving — The winner is clear

People with homes and places of work close to Gautrain stations may find it cheaper to use the service’s recently launched discounted tickets than to travel by car.

However, this will depend on the fuel consumption of their current vehicle and how far they must commute, with longer distances typically making the Gautrain the more affordable option.

The KlevaMova product offers 50% discounts to specific categories of customers who may not be able to afford the service’s regular fees.

The prices are available to households earning a total annual income of R350,000, people with disabilities earning less than R600,000 a year, school-going children under 18, and pensioners.

MyBroadband calculated whether this new product made Gautrain’s commuting fees competitive with the cost of using a car to drive between home and work.

Our findings could vary widely depending on fuel consumption and the vehicle used. Therefore, we chose a model likely to be used by lower-income households.

The maximum gross annual income of R350,000 works out to roughly R29,167 per month.

If there is only one breadwinner in the household, only R24,423 will be left after personal income tax is deducted from their salary.

A common guideline for choosing a car that fits your budget is that its monthly loan instalment must not exceed 20% of your monthly net income. 20% of R24,423 works out to R4,884.60.

That is just about what someone will pay for an entry-level Suzuki Swift on a 72-month instalment term, with a 12% interest rate and no balloon payment.

The Swift is also a sound choice for cash-constrained households, as its fuel consumption is excellent — with a claimed figure of around 4.4 litres per 100 kilometres.

In real-world testing, South African car reviewers have found this figure to be closer to 5 litres per 100km.

Given the small engine of the Swift, it is also completely safe to use more affordable unleaded 93 petrol with this vehicle.

The Mahindra 3xo, which consumes 6.5l/100 km, is a car with a similar price but slightly worse consumption. It needs unleaded 95 as it has a turbocharged engine.

It is also sensible to include the impact of wear and tear in these two vehicles’ cost calculations, which will not be a concern for Gautrain users.

For an indication of the maintenance costs per kilometre, one can refer to the South African Revenue Service’s maintenance costs for cars valued between R200,000 and R300,000.

This added another 65.4 cents per kilometre to the calculations for the Suzuki and Mahindra.

It’s all route-dependent

On the Gautrain side, the KlevaMova discounts are only available on prepaid single-trip, weekly-trip, and monthly-trip products.

The latter includes 44 trips over 44 days and is suitable for commuting both ways over 21 days per month.

Unless the commuter lives and works close to both stations, they must also use the bus twice on each trip.

There are currently no discounts on bus trips for KlevaMova customers. Assuming they need to use the bus during peak times — as most regular Gautrain commuters do — they will pay R13 per trip.

This will add another R572 to their Gautrain expenditure in a month.

Considering all of the above, MyBroadband found it was cheaper to use the Gautrain than the two cars on five of the 11 routes we considered.

It was the most expensive option on the three shortest routes and the second most expensive between Hatfield and Midrand, Centurion and Midrand, and Centurion and Sandton.

The Suzuki Swift was the cheapest on six routes, and second-cheapest on the remaining five.

The Mahindra was the most expensive on all routes except for the three shorter ones from Midrand to the three stations in Johannesburg, where it also trumped the Gautrain.

The table below compares Gautrain KlevaMova monthly product prices across 11 routes with the cost of fuel and wear and tear on the Suzuki Swift and Mahindra 3XO to travel between the same locations.