Afrika T: Using Public Transportation in Cape Town

Blogging Hiatus

Gentle Reader,

Some five years into the life of Afrika T, I now find myself unable to keep up with contributions at a level that I and you have come to expect from this blog. Partly this is because of other activities in responsible tourism (see example here, and another here), partly from other projects in sustainability (see examples here and here), and partly for reasons that are more personal.

I am certainly still active online and in responsible travel, so feel free to comment on existing posts here, to follow me on Twitter, and to note what I've been reading online via Delicious. I also hope to return to Afrika T, so am not bringing the blog to a halt, just declaring a hiatus of indefinite duration...

Thank you for your support over the years, and, if you're a newcomer to the site, may it still prove valuable.

Kind regards

Kurt

5 December 2011

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Using Public Transportation in Cape Town - A firsthand account

One of the long-standing challenges to visiting Cape Town has been getting around from place to place without your own set of wheels. The train, bus and minibus taxi services have historically been of questionable quality, reliability and safety, and are aligned to the needs of local commuters rather than visitors. Over the past few years this has been changing with the introduction of new MyCiti bus services and a major upgrade to the Cape Town Station (rail).

An intrepid soul recently decided to visit Cape Town as a tourist and get around without private (metered) taxis or a hired car, and wrote about his experience on the Trip Advisor Cape Town forum.

He used the MyCiti bus service from the airport and in the central city as well as to the V&A Waterfront, used rail to the Southern Suburbs and a 2-day hop-on/hop-off bus ticket from the City Sightseeing "topless" bus to get to wine tasting, Kirstenbosch, etc. On one occasion he used a Rikki.

His concluding thoughts:

So, to conclude, it is quite possible to have a great holiday in Cape Town using only public transport to get around although a lot depends on where your accommodation is in relation to a bus stop. Also you may be forced to take a cab if staying out late because the public transport does not run 24 hours. According to the website the MyCiti routes are going to be extended into the suburbs around the city bowl and Atlantic seaboard so getting around Cape Town is going to be a lot easier in the future.

Read the full post here.