Town Tools builds free, public tools for Soweto and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/soweto-gauteng-za/what-it-costs-to-travel
Neighbours are starting to report local prices — add yours.
Nobody publishes what it actually costs to get out of Soweto and back. Taxi fares are set by the associations and moved twice in 2026. Rea Vaya's published fare table ran out at the end of June. There is no Metrorail fare table online at all.
So this board is built from the people who paid. Sign in, put in what a trip cost you today, and the board shows the middle figure from recent reports. The more people who add theirs, the more it is worth reading.
Deliberately, no figure of ours is shown next to yours. The published numbers we do have — the Rea Vaya distance table, the Metrorail increase, the taxi ranges — are all in the Getting Around Soweto guide, and putting them here would only teach the board to repeat them back.
Taxi to the Joburg CBD
one way · A single trip from a Soweto rank into town — not the return.
No prices reported yet — be the first.
Taxi around Soweto
one short trip · A local hop between townships — Orlando to Diepkloof, Zola to Jabulani, that sort of distance.
No prices reported yet — be the first.
Taxi to Bara
one way · To the Baragwanath rank or the hospital, from wherever you got in.
No prices reported yet — be the first.
Metrorail train to Johannesburg
single ticket · The Naledi line. Say what you were charged, not what you think the fare should be.
No prices reported yet — be the first.
Rea Vaya into town
single trip · What came off your card or what you paid at the station.
No prices reported yet — be the first.
Bolt or Uber to the CBD
one trip · The fare you actually paid, surge and all — that is the number worth knowing.
These are prices neighbours report paying — not official prices, and not advice on where to buy. Anyone can read the board; reporting a price takes a free account, which keeps it honest. We show the median of recent reports once at least 3 people have reported an item, so no single number sets the figure. A report ages off after about 60 days, so the board stays current on its own.
These are neighbours' figures, not official fares. Nobody here checks them, and one or two reports is not a price — the board waits for a few before it shows a middle figure at all. It shows the median of what people reported in the last 60 days, so it tracks what things cost now rather than what they cost last year. Fares differ by rank, by route, by time of day and by who is driving. What you are charged is what you owe; this is only here so you know roughly what to expect before you leave the house.