{"id":875966,"date":"2026-09-19T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=875966"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:22:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:22:52","slug":"the-cheapest-way-to-get-from-pretoria-to-johannesburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/875966\/the-cheapest-way-to-get-from-pretoria-to-johannesburg\/","title":{"rendered":"The cheapest way to get from Pretoria to Johannesburg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For travellers between Gauteng’s two largest cities, the cost of driving is similar to that of taking the Gautrain, but there are more factors to consider outside of price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg and Pretoria are two of South Africa’s largest metros, and travel between the two cities is common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combined, the two cities had a population of approximately 8.1 million people in South Africa’s 2022 national census, and the population is likely larger today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For travelling between the metros, two main options stand out \u2013 driving a personal vehicle or taking the Gautrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gautrain, launched in 2010, is a constant train service between the two cities, with stops in several key parts of both cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a person travelling between Hatfield and Rosebank \u2013 two major areas in each city, a trip on the Gautrain will cost R82.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fare is for off-peak hours \u2013 peak-hour costs for this trip are R103 from 06:00 to 08:30 in the morning and from 15:00 to 18:30 in the afternoon on weekdays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fare is significantly cheaper than other commuter options, such as e-hailing services, but is very similar to the cost of driving a personal vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of driving from the Hatfield Gautrain Station to the Rosebank Station depends on the car, but estimates put the cost close to that of a train ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming a fuel efficiency of 6.5 litres per 100 kilometres, a typical number for smaller petrol cars and hatchbacks, the cost would be roughly R82.8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For South Africa’s most-purchased car, the Toyota Hilux, fuel costs for the trip would be roughly R107, based on a fuel efficiency of 7.5 litres per 100 kilometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that the cost of driving and that of taking a train between the two major points is roughly similar, depending on the time of day and the specific car a person uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While fuel costs are roughly similar, a driver would also have to consider maintenance, which may not affect trip costs at the time but becomes a major factor down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than just cost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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While the Gautrain can be more affordable depending on the car a person drives, it can be difficult to reach a specific destination from the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Gautrain does run a bus service from each station, these buses follow set routes with specific stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be challenging for people who need to travel to a location outside the Gautrain bus service, or who are going to multiple places in either city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gautrain has previously addressed this “last mile” challenge, saying it would introduce a new e-hailing service for train users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This plan is reportedly still in the conceptual stage, and a spokesperson told MyBroadband that more details will come when it is finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While driving is far more flexible than taking the Gautrain, using the train service can be the faster option between Johannesburg and Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trip from the Gautrain station in Hatfield to the one in Rosebank takes 39 minutes using the train, according to the company’s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the same trip in a personal vehicle, the drive can take between 45 minutes and 1 hour, depending on the time of day and traffic conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, the last mile becomes a concern for Gautrain users, as even though the train itself is quicker than driving, they may still need to use the company’s bus service to reach their destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that for certain destinations, driving might be quicker than the Gautrain, depending on how far they are from the station and its bus routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, both options for travelling between Johannesburg and Pretoria have their own advantages and drawbacks, with the cheaper option depending on a person’s car’s fuel efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the quicker option, the Gautrain is faster than driving on paper, but this may not be true for specific destinations within each city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cost of the Gautrain and driving are similar for moving between Johannesburg and Pretoria, with advantages and drawbacks for each option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":854818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2101235105846951996","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2209977976489268","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[725,26555,1996,8291,24992],"class_list":["post-875966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-gautrain","tag-hatfield","tag-johannesburg","tag-pretoria","tag-rosebank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875966"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876052,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875966\/revisions\/876052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}