Transportation In Cape Town

One of the biggest frights about Cape Town is the lack of public transportation. If you've done a little research on the internet, you've probably learnt about Cape Town that there's zero public transport, you can only get around by car and taxi. As I was reading such articles, the cowboy movies where the dustballs were rolling around the empty streets would start streaming in my head. This, however, is not a very realistic picture of the transportation in Cape Town. 

image source

So buckle up if you want to find out how to go from one place to another in Cape Town. 

MYCITI BUS

The MyCiti Bus is the transportation type with the ideal quality/price ratio in the city. They are probably similar to the regular buses running in your country, where you swipe the card once you get on the bus. 

image source

You can purchase the MyCiti Bus card for 50 Rand. Then, you can load as much as you want. You need to load at least 35 Rand at once. The one way journey is usually around 6 Rand, but the price can increase at very long distances. 

You can click on the link to have a glance at bus network. Unexpectedly, you can travel to most of the main areas in the city by bus. Sea Point, Camps Bay, Hout Bay, Table View, Century City are some of them. The buses do not go everywhere, for instance, there is no My Citi line covering the Southern Suburbs (Observatory-Rondebosch-Claremont line to the east of Table Mountain). There is, however, another bus called Golden Arrow that I haven't used before, so I won't share anything about it for now.

Apart from this, the buses are very comfortable and always on time. The only downside is that they operate less regularly on the weekends, as rare as twice or once an hour.

WHITE TAXI (MINIVAN)

Sometimes you will witness white minivans driving extremely fast on main roads. When they approach pedestrians, someone will open door and yell "GEYB DAVN GEYB DAVN". Welcome to the real South African experience!

image source

White minibuses go almost anywhere in the city. While at the main train station, if walk upstairs without going inside, you will see the platforms of the departure points. The destinations are written on the signs at every platform. 

I sometimes use this mode of transportation especially when I have to go to the Rondebosch side on weekends. 

The minutes I spend in these minivans are one of the rare occasions in Cape Town that I really feel I am in the continent of Africa. Everything from the music playing on the radio to the way the driver drives the bus is a complete African treat!
 
The journey is incredibly cheap! You can go to Rondebosch, 15-20 minutes away from the city center, for only 8 Rand. The only annoying bit is that the driver waits so long for the bus to fill up completely before taking off. The driver sometimes squeezes so many people in the van beyond the maximum capacity.

The big question is the safety, especially for tourists. Speaking from my own experience, I haven't had anything bad happening to me during the times that I used these buses. That is not to say that it is always safe, but it is generally safe because many women and children take these buses especially during rush hours. However, if you are in a secluded area and the van has only the driver and a couple of other dodgy people, you should have second thoughts.

TRAIN

In Cape Town, another vehicle that intimidates some people is the train. The reason is the same as that of the white minivans. 

image source

To briefly mention the railway system; there are two classes: first and third (no idea why they skipped the second). To be honest, there is not much of a difference between the two classes. For example, finding severely tattered leather seats in first class is just as common as in the third class.

I took the train to travel to distant places like Muizenberg and Stellenbosch. I was never in the third class so I don't know the ticket fare. The first class return ticket was 10 for Muizenberg and 13 Rand for Stellenbosch. 

I didn't feel anxious about being robbed, because it was generally crowded in the train during the day. So I suggest you don't use the train after dark when the wagons are secluded. Same goes for daytime, try to find a seat in a crowded wagon.

Another difficulty with these trains is that they don't always arrive on time. A friend of mine had to wait for hours in Muizenberg because the train did not arrive at the anticipated time.

UBER

In situations where I can not use public transport, my one and only choice is definitely Uber.

image source

To give you an idea, here are the Uber fares from Bo-kaap to various places:

Long, Loop, Bree, Kloof and Orange St. 20 Rand (pricing starts at 20)

Gardens, Waterfront: 26-30 R

Woodstock, Greenpoint: 40 R

Observatory, Seapoint: 60-70 R

Camps Bay, Rondebosch, Claremont, Century City: 90-100 R

When you download the app on your phone, you can determine whether you will pay by card or cash.

When you specify the address, you are going to see the price lists for different types of cars. Depending on how many people you are, you can order cars of different sizes. Of course, some genius people might think, "Ok, lets squeeze 5 people in the back and two people in the front ". The truth is, if you are a lot more crowded than the car can take up, the driver can refuse to drive you. 

There was an episode in Black Mirror where everyone scored each other. Uber also has a similar system, as you can score drivers and they can also score you. If your score is too low, the drivers may refuse to take you. So, to keep your score high, do not forget to fasten your seatbelt and be polite to the drivers (not just for the sake of getting a high score, but also as it is a necessity of civilization). 

I had very interesting and funny conversations with some drivers. Most of them already know about Turkey because they come from other African countries who have somewhat decent political relations with Turkey. The number drivers who talked to me about politics was more than just a few!

Which transportation method in Cape Town is your favorite? Drop me a comment below.

See you next time ;)

This article was paraphrased from my own blog article. The link to the original article can be found here.

Haritakurdu