Why I Prefer Gas to Petrol — South African Taxi Driver

In this interview with Valuechain, a South African Taxi driver in Cape Town, Mr. Inga Matyolo shares his experience of how using gas to power his taxi is cheaper, safer and helps him break even from the business compared to using petrol for the same taxi. Excerpts.

Can we meet you?

My name is Inga Matyolo. I’m one of the drivers who have the auto-gas system fitted on their cars. The auto-system is more economical and it’s perfect for drivers. For anyone who’s always on the road or people that use their car to go to work. If you bought your car on Bolt or Uber, they’ll fix it for you. It’s included in the money that you pay if you’re driving a personal car or you want to put it on your own car, they’ll charge you 10,000 Rand (N417,151) for everything. We used to have one filling station now it’s growing. There’s another filling station here at the airport. So, it’s still a new thing. Most people find it hard to buy the gas. They don’t trust it. But I would advise everyone to buy the gas, it’s cheaper and also reliable.

Can you tell us how much you fill your tank with gas and how much if petrol?

Okay with gas. For the full tank I pay 600 Rand (N25,022) because a liter of gas is 14 Rand (N583.96). For petrol a liter is 25 rand (N1,042). And then the full tank is 1300 Rand.

What is the capacity of your car?

The capacity of my car Is 42 liters

42 liters? Can you tell us the make of your car?

The make of my car is Suzuki Ertiga, the 2023 model, it can fit on any car.

What is the full tank of the gas and the full tank of the petrol. Can you tell us the distance both of them can take you?

Okay. Full tank of the petrol is 600 Rand (N25,022) max, 600 kilometers and then the gas is 550 kilometers max.

Do you make profit with gas or petrol?

Okay to be honest, with gas I make a lot of profit because if you can calculate the difference you put on gas and petrol you will see a lot of difference. For example, for full tank of petrol is 1300 Rand (N54,212), I can buy two full tanks of gas with that 1300 Rand. So why buy petrol? If I can buy two full tanks of gas for same cost as one full tank of petrol?

We understand that people here in Cape Town are a bit apprehensive or afraid of using gas in their cars. Can you tell us your own experience and experience of other people close to you?

Most people are very skeptical because they always think, what if there is an accident, what’s going to happen? Is the car going to explode or what? But to be honest, no one trusted gas, and I can say I’m the first and only black guy, from where I come from to get a car like this. And most guys are still skeptical but because they see I’m making money, they want to buy it. And now there are a lot of people that want to join me. So yes, it is difficult to convince them, but they’re seeing that I’m saving a lot of money because I show them proof.

Where do you come from?

I’m from the Eastern Cape, in a small place called East London.

So, what’s your message to people of Africa in terms of accepting gas,  to power their cars?

My message is; let’s get out of our comfort zones. I know we like petrol, but to be honest, let’s face the reality, petrol is expensive and we must live in an economically friendly place. So, to be safe and save money, join gas. Don’t be skeptical, just go for change. Just do it.