When Transaction Capital issued its unaudited interim results more than a month ago it noted that while most operating metrics had improved beyond prepandemic levels, numerous headwinds had “suppressed commuter activity”.

These headwinds included the slow recovery in key sectors from which commuters are drawn, civil and taxi unrest in 2021, fuel price increases and the recent floods in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Transaction Capital expected that minibus taxi operators would increase their fares in the near future. That “near future” now seems to be here...