Journey Price Calculator

How the journey price is worked out

The tool starts from a distance: the TANROADS chart value for the two towns, doubled if the trip is a return, or the kilometres the reader types in when the route is not on the chart. It converts that to litres with the vehicle's consumption, using the reader's figure because the site has no way to know it. The litres are priced at the EWURA cap price for the fuel type in the origin town — the place the tank is filled — and the result is shown per kilometre and, when there are passengers, per person. Nothing in the chain is a hidden assumption except the two the page states: the consumption and the origin-town price.

Petrol and diesel cap prices, October 2026

Cap price, pump price and the sign at the station

EWURA sets a maximum retail price each month for petrol, diesel and kerosene in every town. A station may sell at or below that cap; it may not sell above it. The tool uses the cap, so its answer is the most the fuel should cost, and a station selling below the cap will make the real trip cheaper. The cap changes with the monthly notice — the price shown on this page names the month and the effective date, and the figure is re-checked when EWURA publishes the next one.

The consumption figure is the one that matters most

Distance and price are fixed by the chart and the notice; consumption is the variable that a reader controls. A saloon car on a highway may use 6–8 L/100 km; a loaded pickup, a minibus or a 4×4 on a gravel road can use 12–18. That difference dwarfs the few shillings between one town's cap price and another's. If the estimate looks wrong, the consumption is the first field to change, and the odometer is a better guide than the manufacturer's brochure.

What the estimate leaves out

The figure is fuel only. It excludes tyres, servicing, depreciation, insurance, driver time and any fine or bribe, and it assumes the vehicle is not carrying a load that changes consumption. It also assumes one fill at the origin price: a long trip may buy fuel in a cheaper town on the way, which the tool does not model. For a shared trip, the per-passenger row divides the fuel evenly and nothing else — it is not a fare and does not include the driver's time.

Why the tool prices fuel at the origin town

A journey is fuelled where it starts, so the origin town's cap price is the most defensible single price to apply to the whole trip. Using the destination's price would overstate a trip from Dar es Salaam to a remote region, and averaging the two would invent a price that no notice publishes. When the reader wants a different basis, they can start the calculation from the town whose price they will actually pay.

Journey Price worked examples

• Dar es Salaam to Dodoma in a petrol car

  Neema drives her petrol car from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma and gets about 8 L/100 km.

  Dar es Salaam to Dodoma (451 km one way) in a vehicle using 8 L/100 km: 36.1 litres at a litre of petrol at the October 2026 cap price of TSh 4,057 in Dar es Salaam = TSh 146,377 of fuel.

• A diesel pickup from Arusha to Moshi

  Baraka runs a diesel pickup between Arusha and Moshi at about 11 L/100 km.

  Arusha to Moshi (80 km one way) in a vehicle using 11 L/100 km: 8.8 litres at a litre of diesel at the October 2026 cap price of TSh 4,215 in Arusha = TSh 37,092 of fuel.

• A return trip from Mwanza to Bukoba, split three ways

  Grace and two colleagues drive from Mwanza to Bukoba and back, sharing the fuel three ways.

  Mwanza to Bukoba (832 km return) in a vehicle using 7.5 L/100 km: 62.4 litres at a litre of petrol at the October 2026 cap price of TSh 4,272 in Mwanza = TSh 266,573 of fuel.

Journey Price: assumptions and limits

What it assumes

• The vehicle's consumption is the figure the reader enters, in litres per 100 km; the site has no way to measure it.
• Fuel is priced at the EWURA cap price for the origin town in the month named on the page — the most a station there may charge.
• The distance is the TANROADS road distance between town centres, or the reader's own kilometres, doubled for a return trip.
• One fuel type is used for the whole journey, and the same origin-town price applies to the return leg.

Where the result does not apply

• Wear, tyres, servicing, depreciation, insurance, driver time and fines — this is a fuel cost, not a full running cost.
• Towing, heavy loads, roof racks and off-road conditions that change real consumption far beyond the entered figure.
• Buying fuel at a different town from the origin, or at a station selling below the cap.
• Cross-border trips, where the fuel price and the distance both leave the Tanzanian chart.

Journey Price FAQs

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