City to City Bus Tickets Bookings 2025

Autopax, which runs City to City and Translux Buses, is in business rescue. It offers semi-luxury, no frills domestic and regional coach trips. They service a large network of stops across Southern Africa including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Zambia.

Although they focus on city centres, they have multiple stops in all the major cities of South Africa.

Book your City to City bus ticket online right here!

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Autopax

Booking a City to City Bus ticket

Website bookings

You can book a City to City Bus ticket online at www.res.prasa.com/citytocity/bookings or through online bus ticket retailers such as Blu Label, Shoprite and mandated travel agencies.

City to City phone numbers for telephonic bookings

Call Centre Tel: 087-743-2120 (standard call rates apply)
(note that 0861 589 282, the old toll-free number was deactivated)
Tel: +27 (011) 774-3333
Fax: +27 (011) 774-3831
Email: reservations.citytocity@prasa.com (translux@apx.co.za is reportedly not working)

Problems with SID payments (Secure EFT)

If you have a problem with a SID payment not working properly, you may want to email support@sidpayment.com

Registered address

3rd Floor,
PRASA Umjantshi House (next to Johannesburg's Park Station),
30 Wolmarans Street,
Hillbrow,
Johannesburg,
2017

Postal address

P.O. Box 1907
Pretoria
0001

City to City Express bus

Other contact details

Customer care:

Email customercare@citytocity.co.za
Phone +27-11-774-8304

Booking enquiries

City to City bus tickets may be purchased directly at bus stations.

Eastern Cape

East London Station 043 700 1015
East London Windmill 043 743 7893
King Williams Town 043 643 4163
Mthatha 047 531 0875
Queenstown: 045 808 2065
Port Elizabeth 041 392 1304 (reportedly not working)

Free State

Bloemfontein Tourism Centre; Park Road; 051 408 4888

Gauteng

Johannesburg 011 773 8056
Pretoria 012 315 3476

KwaZulu-Natal

Durban 031 361 7670
Pietermaritzburg 033 345 0165

Limpopo

Mokopane 015 491 8457
Polokwane 015 295 5548

Mpumalanga

Nelspruit 013 755 1453

Western Cape

Cape Town Adderley Street; Cape Town Station; 021 449 6209 (reportedly not working)
George 044 801 8298
Knysna 044 382 1407

No liability for anything

Take care of yourself and your things, as City to City's conditions of carriage state that you cannot hold it liable for anything, even if it's negligent: "City To City, its Directors, Officers, Employees, Servants or Agents shall not be liable (whether in contract or delict) in any way whatsoever for loss, injury, loss of life or damage of whatsoever nature and howsoever caused. Whether or not caused by the negligence of City To City. Its Directors, Officers, Employees, Servants or Agents arising out of or connected in any way to the conveyance or non-conveyance by City To City of any passenger or any person or of the property of any person whether such property is accompanied by a passenger or not."

Autopax Passenger Services

City to City Passengers (and Translux) are trading names used for luxury coach operations of Autopax Passenger Services (SOC) Ltd (Registration number 1995/000861/30); which is better simply known as "Autopax".
Autopax in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa). which is owned by the SA Government and reports to the Minister of Transport. Whilst owned by PRASA, Autopax is operationally independent, with its own board of directors. At the time writing directors of Autopax were Monnapula Motlogelwa, Thinavhuyo Ndidinwangani Mype and Sibongile Luthuli; with Nathaniel Roesch being the CEOs.

Autopax's mandate is to provide high quality and affordable long distance transport solutions (bus and rail) as advised by South Africa's Minister of Transport; as well as to assist PRASA's rail function in emergency situations and to provide transport solutions feeding into Metrorail. This mandate is set out in principles set out in Section 23 of the Legal Succession to the SA Transport Services Amendment Act.

Autopax Passenger Services is a member of SABOA (Southern African Bus Operators Association).

Autopax offers a charter bus service through Autopax Charters.

Autopax are currently in business rescue since 18 Nov 2021.

Contact details of business rescue practitioners

Email accounting@therescuecompany.co.za

Phone number : +27-10-110-1011

Fleet

Having started life with 514 buses, this has steadily declined and in 2023 Autopax's total fleet was about 75 buses; all of which are getting long in the tooth being over 12 years of age (which compares to average industry lifespan for these types of buses of 8 to 10 years). The old fleet might save replacement costs, but it results in higher maintenance costs as well as higher diesel costs.

Jobs

Employees of Autopax are represented by 2 unions:

SATAWU
NUMSA

PRASA

The name "Passenger Rail Association of South Africa" (PRASA) may suggest that it's focus is only on rail transport, but in fact PRASA is mandated by the South African Government to provide all of intercity bus transport, rail transport in cities and rail transport between cities. In addition to providing intercity bus services through Autopax, PRASA also sells bus tickets and owns bus terminals. Its 9 bus terminals are:

Cape Town Station.
Durban Station.
Germiston Station.
Johannesburg Park Station; which is a central hub connecting not only buses, but also trains and taxis (both long distance taxis as well as inner-city taxis). During the 2023 financial year, Park Station's bus billing system was changed so that on entry to Park Station, buses immediately pay (including Autopax to be fair) which will prevent the build-up of a receivables book (what immediately comes to mind in this regard is the APM court case with Autopax and PRASA about Park Station's supposedly unfair billing practices).
Kaalfontein Station (Tembisa)
Kimberley Station.
Pretoria Station.
Vereeniging Station.

PRASA's holds the following 100 percent owned subsidiaries:

Intersite Asset Investments (SOC) Ltd.
Autopax Passenger Services (SOC) Ltd.

PRASA Rail operations

Metrorail is the division of PRASA which is responsible for supply rail passenger commuting services in metropolitan areas (ie not long distance like Shosholoza Meyl). Services include not just the normal Metro and Metro Plus services, but also a Business Express service. Metropoliant areas served by Metrorail are Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha, East London and the Johannesburg/Pretoria metropole, You can get hold of them at:

promotions@metrorail.co.za
rtourism@prasa.com
+27-21-449-2366
+27-21-449-3018
+27-21-449-2180
+27-21-449-6480

PRASA also supplies long distance rail services via Shosholoza Meyl and Premier Classe.

Address: 1 Adderley St (Cape Town Station), 8000, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

PRASA Jobs

Click here to find a list of all PRASA's available jobs.

Email recruit@prasa.com

Corporate jobs email corp.recruitment@prasa.com

Contact details

Email: info@prasa.com or prasa@thehotline.co.za (whistleblowing) or prasa.properties@prasa.com (with respect to their properly holdings) or

Phone number: +27-11-277-2008 or +27-11-013-1700 or +27-12-748-7000 or +27-800-234-778 (whistleblowing)

Physical address for PRASA's corporate head office: Prasa Umjantshi House, 30 Wolmarans Street (near Johannesburg's Park Station of course), Braamfontein (Hillbrow), 2017, Joburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Postal address: Private Bag x22 Marshalltown, Johannesburg, 2017, Gauteng Province, South Africa

PRASA Annual report

In PRASA's 2022/2023 annual report the phrase "City to City" is not mentioned once! However, the word "Autopax" is mentioned 73 times. Autopax is the entity which PRASA owns which operates under the names "City to City Passenger" and "Translux". Autopax is mentioned with reference to:

there being a "feasible and financially sustainable" business rescue plan which was set up by Autopax, which depends on shareholder funding and support. In 2024 major expenses will be incurred to fund the retrenchments and fleet replacement programs, with profit being projected for 2025. Once profitable, it is planned to onboard a strategic investor, the proceeds of which will refund Goverment.
PRASA's board "approved a proposal for recapitalisation of buses, which is awaiting approval by the shareholder" (the shareholder being referred to is presumably the South African Government as represented by the Department of Transport and approved by the National Treasury).
There being "symbiotic relationship" between bus and rail (presumably this implies that PRASA's rail operations require or are enhanced by also supply a bus service).
There being a focus on consolidating in a single depot the bus maintenance and bus service divisions.
Aligning the number of staff with requirements (this is presumably a polite way of saying they're retrenching staff. Of course retrenching costs money, and R80m funding has been approved by Government for the retrenchment packages. The packages must have been ok as it seems that staff opted to take the voluntary severance package, "the remaining excess staff will be dealt with through a S189 (of the Labour Relations Act) process".
The poor mechnical state of their buses, with redundant buses being sold, and a fleet replacement strategy proposed.
Ticket sales offices closed where it made sense, and third party agents appointed in these areas to operate their sales.
At 31 Mar 2023; PRASA had lent a total of R1.7bn to Autopax, all of which was impaired on their books (there are no repayment terms).

News

10 May 2024. Click here to read Autopax's revised business rescue plan. Amongst other information released was:
- list of Autopax's creditors
- list of Autopax's vehicles
24 Jul 2023. Click here to read the Autopax business rescue plan; bottom line is that they need funding either from government via PRASA or from the private sector via a joint venture with PRASA (if they go the liquidation route instead, indications are that creditors will receive the likes of a measly half a cent for each Rand which the are owed); this funding would be used to repay debtors and for operational purposes (especially replacing its aging fleet of buses). A contributing factor to Autopax's revenue declines are the "intimidation of Autopax buses and drivers by Taxi operators in the Northern and Eastern Cape". With 800 people operating 69 buses, Autopax's employee:bus ratio is a very high 11.9; further exacerbated by a high salary bill of R281m (some R351k per person).
11 Nov 2021. Autopax's board decide to place the company into voluntary business rescue; citing difficult financial circumstances worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic (as fellow travel industry operators, we empathise strongly with them).
Aug 2021. PRASA decide to assist with the payment of salaries for Autopax staff for July and August 2021.
Jul 2021. PRASA, Autopax's sole shareholder, indicates that as a result of it being under severe financial pressure it would not be able to provide further operational funding to Autopax. PRASA had previously been providing monetary support. PRASA would engage with Government's National Department of Transport (its shreholder) in this regard.
28 Sep 2020. PRASA's claim against Autopax was a chunky R1.6bn on 31 Mar 2022; this claim was subordinated in favour of other creditors. (as per PRASA's agreement) on the 28th Sep 2020.
10 Feb 2018. Pre Easter specials deals - get up to 20 percent off your C2C bus trip (selected dates and routes only).
11 Jan 2018. Around 09h10 the driver of a Toyota Quantum taxi is seriously injured after he crashes into a City to City bus. The accident occurred on the N2 near Butterworth.
11 Oct 2017. A 25 year old fmeale Lesotho citizen was caught by the Hawks K9 unit transporting R250k of crystal methamphetamine in biscuit tins and juice cartons on a bus from Johannesburg to George when it was near Sedgwick, with City to City.
30 Dec 2016. A bus owned by City to City, rolls over near King Williams Town; but all passengers survive. The bus was on its way from Durban to Cape Town.
07 Jul 2015. Nearly a week of violence finally came to an abrubt halt yesterday after taxi operators came to an agreement with local government. City-to-city and Translux busses, both operated by Autopax, had fallen victim to a spate of taxi violence following the start of operations in the Mamelodi district. Previously operated by PUTCO, taxi operators in the Mamelodi area were unhappy that governement awarded the routes to Autopax. What ensued was six days of violence in which one bus driver was shot and countless residents traumatised often unable to find transport to their jobs. Autopax busses are still under heavy guard incase the peace does not hold.
2015 - 2018. PUTCO abandons multiple routes in Gauteng, including Evaton, Mamelodi and Vosloorus. The Gauteng government requests Autopax to take over PUTCO's abandoned routes; however its long distance buses are not suited to the stop-start nature of these shorter routes, and this further runs down Autopax's aging fleet.
15 Dec 2013. City to City extends its deepest apologies for the delays in some of our services due to the high volume of traffic as a result of the events happening around the State Funeral of the late President Nelson Mandela in the country. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
The stopping point at Caltex Garage ends at 30 Nov 2013, and the new stopping point is Samrand Shell ultra City.
Mar 2009. PRASA is launched operationally, with its assets now consisting of Shosholoza Meyl and Premier Classe trains, Metrorail, Autopax and Intersite Property.
23 Dec 2008. The emergence of PRASA! The SARCC is renamed PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa).
Aug 2008. A City to City bus is involved in an accident with a minibus taxi on the R56 near Ixopo (KwaZulu-Natal), with 73 people being seriously injured.
Mar 2008. City to City increase coach ticket prices by ten percent.
2006. Metrorail is transferred to being run by the SARCC.
1 Dec 2004. Long distance passenger bus and rail services are integrated into one unit managed by Transnet and the SARCC.
1 Apr 1999. (again, not an April fools joke!) Transnet's bus passenger segment, running the City to City and Translux bus brands, is incorporated and starts trading under the name "Autopax Passenger Services (SOC) Ltd". PRASA go on to purchase Autopax's entire share capital, becoming its sole owner.
1 Apr 1990 (not an April fools joke!) Transnet is created to take over the non-commuter rail operations of SATS (SARCC takes over the commuter rail functions). Metrorail (a dvision of Spoornet, Transnet's rail segment) runs SARCC's commuter rail operations.
1 Jan 1912. The 3 railways joined into the SA Railways and Harbours (later called SATS) have completed the renumbering and reclassification of their rolling stock.
1910. All rail services in SA are placed into one entity, the "South African Railways and Harbours"; as a result of the formation of the Union of South Africa.