Government to Fully Absorb Bus Fare Increase, Commuters to Pay No Extra Cost

The Ministry of Finance wishes to advise the public that the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission approved a 22.5 percent increase in bus fares, effective from 26 May 2026. As announced earlier, Cabinet had approved to fully absorb the fare increase in addition to the existing 10 percent bus fare subsidy at a total annual cost of around $40 million.

To facilitate implementation, Vodafone will increase the bus fares on the e-ticketing system for blue cards, purple cards and green cards, effective from Saturday 7 June. The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection has preloaded the purple and green cards for social welfare recipients with a 50 percent top up to cater for the 22.5 percent increase in the fares. Similarly, the blue cards were already loaded with funds by the Ministry of Education and additional funding will be loaded as and when required to absorb the additional 22.5 percent increase in fares. The blue bus cards are provided to students whose parental income is less than $16,000 and the bus fare is fully subsidized.

For the adult red cards and the student yellow cards, the fare will not be changed on the

e-ticketing system as Government will directly provide the subsidies on these cards to the bus companies through Vodafone. Ministry of Finance has released the necessary funding for subsidy payments on red cards for the month of May and June while the Ministry of Education will process the subsidy on the yellow cards as per its current arrangements with the bus companies and Vodafone.

Government assures the travelling public that they will not incur any additional bus fare costs despite the 22.5 percent increase in fares as Government will fully absorb the additional cost.