A man was shot dead on a Golden Arrow bus after refusing to surrender his wedding ring to robbers.

The 41 year old victim was shot dead on his way home from work on a bus from Claremont to Mitchells Plain.

Three men started robbing passengers, and when they came to Pearson he gave them two of his rings but refused to hand over his wedding band.The men shot him in the arm but he still refused. Then they said: “We are not joking,” and shot him in chest.

Police said one of the passengers was robbed of R23 000 in cash and cheques before the robbers got off the bus and fled the scene in a white BMW with a blue bonnet. It is believed one of the robbers boarded the bus at a Claremont bus stop and the other two during the journey to Mitchells Plain.Golden Arrow said this was “an isolated incident”.

There had been a trend towards attacks and robberies on buses, so the assumption of “safety in numbers” does not apply to South Africa”s public bus network.

Robbers often held drivers up at gunpoint, telling them to slow down while they robbed passengers of money, jewellery and cellphones. Sometimes robbers targeted drivers for the money.