We’ve been wanting to do this post for a while. We have finally written about the mass transit in Cape Town.

We had heard mostly negative things about public transportation in South Africa from many of the travel forums and other sources prior to our arrival. We still needed to get around without a rental car and have had the time to learn how to use public transportation.

The MyCiti bus system was established around the World Cup in 2010, and is a combined effort between three companies. The locals told us the reason why the system works so well is because it’s a commercial entity and not a government run enterprise. Some of the roads were redone to include a bus only lane, which increased reliability. The busses were all almost new and in very good shape with a scan card payment system, thus no delays looking for change. The best thing was that many of the stations were indoors, which required your pass to access. This was great and made the stations safe. We used the MyCiti almost the entire time we were in Cape Town.

The train system was a bit more risky. We were warned not to ride the trains past 6pm, but they are fine during the day when the cars always have people. The trains served downtown, then it went off in the North, South, and East directions (Hout Bay was South West and the MyCiti did a great job there). We took the train several times when in Muizenberg and learned that there are two classes: Metro aka ‘third class’ and Metro Plus. The Metro Plus cars were much nicer, but there was no checking of tickets or controls over which car anyone entered. We learned the difference after our first time on the train, which was a little sketchy. After that, we purchased Metro Plus tickets and always got into the nicer car.

Private Taxis are too expensive to take and we were informed that they make a point of catering to tourists and charging ridiculous amounts after you arrive at the destination.

Taxi busses are known for being dangerous. They are commonly referred to as ‘black taxis’. Some looked nicer than others and didn’t seem like a bad ride, but some of them were decrepit and it was hard to believe they were on the road, with 10 people inside. We wouldn’t touch these with a 10ft pole!