Bus Transfers To and From Cape Town Airport

Cape Town International Airport is one of the largest airports in Africa, and handles approximately 10 million passengers per year. The airport is located in one of South Africa’s most beautiful, diverse and popular cities for tourism and over a million of the passengers arriving at Cape Town Airport are international. Along with many other achievements, Cape Town Airport, in 2009, received the Skytrax award for being the best airport in Africa. The airport is located approximately 20 km from the city center of Cape Town, and a regular bus service provides transports between the airport and the Civic Center bus station in the city. The transport services offered by this bus are a popular way to travel for many passengers arriving or departing from Cape Town Airport.

There are five terminal buildings at Cape Town International Airport, of which three are dedicated to departures, and two are the arrival terminals. The airport is separated into various areas for international and domestic passengers, and South African Airways has its own dedicated departures terminal. Recent upgrades to the airport included a new Central Terminal, which now connects the domestic and international areas of the airport, whereas before they were separate buildings. The new Central Terminal is used for all check-in processes of the airport, for all airline companies, and all domestic and international flights. The MyCiTi bus can be found outside the international and domestic arrival terminals, and is available approximately every 20 minutes from the airport.

MyCiTi is Cape Town’s new rapid bus service, and the route between Cape Town Airport and central Cape Town is their first scheduled shuttle bus service. The bus departs from the terminal between the hours of 04:20 and 21:00, every day of the week, and travels to the Civic Center Station located on Hertzog Boulevard in the CBD, or Central Business District of Cape Town. The first service to operate from the bus terminal at the airport was on May 29, 2010.

The bus trip to central Cape Town will take approximately twenty to thirty minutes during morning peak traffic hours, and around forty-five to fifty-five minutes during afternoon rush-hour traffic. During other times of the day, the journey only takes about fifteen to twenty minutes.

Bus Tickets for the MyCiTi bus can be purchased at Cape Town International Airport, at the airport bus station, and cost R50 per person for a one-way trip. Half price tickets are available for children. There are also certain special offers available, for example, if you purchase twenty or more tickets of the same type, a 20% discount is applicable. Therefore, twenty adult tickets will cost R800, and twenty tickets for children will cost R400. Non-transferable tickets are available for unlimited travel with a calendar month of issue, and will cost R400. This ticket is ideal for someone who travels to the airport more than eight times a month.

MyCiTi buses are available from the Civic Center Station for travel back to the airport between the same times, and a one-way ticket will cost R50 as well. Bus tickets can be purchased at the Civic Center Station.

The bus stations used by the MyCiTi buses are universally accessible, which means that they are comfortable for use by disabled passengers and passengers with reduced mobility. The stations are all built with wide doors, level platforms, boarding bridges between the platforms and buses to provide easy access for passengers in wheelchairs, and each bus has space for at least one wheelchair. Passengers are also permitted to bring bicycles on board the buses at no extra charge, and there are bicycle racks nearby each MyCiTi station. This is in order to encourage locals and visitors to use an alternative form of transport, other than motor vehicle. Further information about the MyCiTi service is available at https://myciti.org.za/en/home/.

Apart from the MyCiTi bus service; there are numerous other private shuttle buses which provide transport to various destinations in Cape Town and in the Western Cape from Cape Town International Airport. Examples of companies which offer these services are Noble Travel and Tours +27 (0)21 934 1810, City Hopper +27 (0)21 934 4448 and Centurion Tours +27 (0)21 934 8281. Representatives from these services may meet their passengers in the arrival areas of the airport, and run from the international inner lane of the airport road. The transport services cost approximately R120 per person, plus R30 for each extra passenger from the same group of customers. Services from these companies are best arranged in advance of your arrival at Cape Town Airport. Furthermore, most hotels in the area offer complimentary transport to and from the airport, and their services should be requested at the time of booking your hotel accommodation.

Buses run by companies such as Greyhound and Intercape offer transport to cities across South Africa. They are luxury buses traveling to Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein, as well as other areas nearer to the Western Cape.

Passengers traveling to and from Cape Town International Airport will find the new bus services to be highly efficient, and to provide a much-needed connection to the city center of Cape Town.