Greyhound is coming back to South Africa.
The long-distance coach operator promises a rebound of services between centres in South Africa and cross-border very soon. Greyhound SA and its subsidiary, Citiliner, ceased operating their services on February 14, 2021. Passengers with tickets for dates after February 14 were offered refunds.
At the time, Greyhound had been running for 37 years, having started services in 1984.
COVID-19 lockdown regulations were blamed, but the bus lines were victims of the extremely low domestic airfares on offer at the time – in February 2021, a one-way ticket on Greyhound from Johannesburg to Cape Town was from R450. One-way tickets at the time on the same route on kulula.com were from R479.
Airfares are now a different matter from what they were in February 2021, and Greyhound’s fares are too.A lead-in one-way Greyhound fare, Johannesburg to Cape Town appears on its websites to be around R820. From the website too, it appears its services will begin around April 13.
Greyhound’s Facebook site advertises scheduled luxury intercity coach travel, cross-border to Mozambique and Zimbabwe, plus a national network covering all major cities in South Africa. It also has special discounts for students and pensioners, and a frequent traveller programme.
On board, Greyhound promises DVD viewing, reclining seats, hostesses on some services, tea and coffee on some routes, toilets on board, specific seat bookings (aisle or window) and earphones available on selected routes, according to information on its website.
