Taxis in South Africa, and the airport e-hailing bays

Uber and Bolt are both widely available in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria, and they are the way most visitors get around. Bolt is usually 10 to 20 percent cheaper on the same route, so many travelers keep both and compare, especially when one is surging. inDriver, where you propose a fare, is another option.

Two safety habits are worth building. Verify the driver and plate in the app before you get in, and where you can, request pickups from inside a mall or hotel rather than standing on the street. Since 2025, e-hailing drivers must hold a licence and are limited to set areas, which is mostly invisible to you but can occasionally affect how quickly a car turns up.

The operational catch is that at the airports, Uber and Bolt do not pick up at the arrivals door. You walk to a designated e-hailing bay. At Cape Town (CPT), the bays are at Parkade 1, Ground Floor, reached via the departures-level skybridge, so you pass the metered-taxi rank outside arrivals and follow the e-hailing signs. The airport Wi-Fi is free, so you can book on arrival, and it is roughly 150 to 250 rand into the city bowl. At Johannesburg's OR Tambo, there are designated pickup areas outside the terminals.

The single most important rule for an arriving passenger: never accept an unsolicited ride from anyone who approaches you inside the terminal. Use the official metered-taxi rank outside arrivals, or the app's e-hailing bay, and nothing offered to you in the hall.

There is a long-running, sometimes violent conflict between e-hailing drivers and the traditional metered-taxi and minibus-taxi operators, and it flares at certain transport hubs. Notably, some Gautrain stations are effectively no-go zones for app pickups: at Sandton, for example, drop-off at the station is fine, but pickup is moved about a kilometre away and the app will direct you there. It rarely touches a normal hotel-to-restaurant ride, so if the app ever sends you to an odd pickup point near a station, that is the reason.

Separately, the minibus taxis, the packed shared vans that most South Africans rely on, are best avoided by visitors. They are cheap and everywhere, but the safety standards, route confusion and periodic disputes between operators make them a poor fit for a traveler who does not know the system.

In Johannesburg, the Gautrain is the safe, fast rail link from OR Tambo airport to Sandton, Rosebank and Pretoria, running frequently until the evening and beating the highway traffic. Pick up a Gautrain Gold Card at the airport station, which also works on the buses that fan out from the stations.

In the apps you pay by card, which is one less thing to manage. Metered taxis prefer cash and remain handy for Cape Town airport runs, where the regulated rate can beat app surge pricing. Tipping around 10 percent is normal for a good ride. For the wider money picture, including how much cash to carry, see the South Africa money guide.

Common questions

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More on South Africa

The little money things nobody warns you about.

• Do I need cash in South Africa, or can I use cards?Short answer: a card for most of the day, and rand cash for markets, car guards, petrol attendants and tips. Use ATMs in secure spots and mind the skimming scams. Here is how to handle it.
• Tipping in South AfricaSouth Africa does have a tipping culture, and it is expected: 10 to 15% at restaurants. There are also two local customs to know, tipping car guards and petrol attendants. Here is what you actually owe.