How to read a Golden Arrow timetable

Updated 15 October 2026

Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS) publishes a timetable for each of its Cape Town routes as a PDF: a grid of place names down the side and departure times across. It looks simple, and mostly it is, but a few conventions catch people out. This guide explains each one with a real example. My Bus is an independent app, not part of GABS. It reads these same documents.

The timetable number: route and direction

Every timetable has a number like 0193 01. The first four digits are the route number. The last two pick out one service pattern on that route, usually one direction: 0193 01 runs from Strand to Cape Town, and 0193 02 runs back.

One route number is not always one road. Route 0015 has four timetables: 01 and 02 run between Fisantekraal, Durbanville and Cape Town, while 03 and 04 run between Kraaifontein, Northpine and Cape Town. Different suburbs, different stops, same route number. Check the timetable number and the places, not just the route.

One column is one bus

Read a timetable down a column, not across a row. Each column is one trip: one bus, from where it starts to where it ends. Each row is a place, and the time in the cell is when that bus is due there.

The rows are not always printed in the order the bus drives them. In route 0015’s 0015 03 timetable, Bloekombos is printed below Cape Town, but the bus reaches Bloekombos at 05:05, seventy minutes before Cape Town at 06:15. Follow the times, earliest to latest, and they give the real order. My Bus sorts every trip by its own times for this reason.

Day blocks: weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays

A timetable is split into blocks headed MONDAYS TO FRIDAYS, SATURDAYS and SUNDAYS. A block that says NO SERVICE means exactly that: no buses on that day on this timetable.

Public holidays have their own timetables, published as separate documents that share the regular timetable’s number. Route 0044’s 0044 01 has a regular timetable and a separate public holiday one, with different times. If a timetable has no block for a day at all, it simply does not cover that day: another document may.

Footnote letters: a and b are different buses

Some times carry a letter, like 04:50a and 04:50b. The letter refers to a legend printed on the same timetable, under ABBREVIATIONS. On route 0193’s timetable it reads:

  • a – Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
  • b – Fridays

So 04:50a and 04:50b are two different buses that leave at the same time, one from Monday to Thursday and one on Fridays. They can arrive at different times: on that timetable the Monday to Thursday bus reached Artscape at 07:05 and the Friday bus at 07:00. A time with no letter runs every day in its block.

Read the legend on each timetable. The letters are defined per document, so the same letter could mean something else on another route.

“via” and “--”

  • via means the bus goes past that place but no time is published there. Don’t plan to board at a via point: the bus may not stop, and you would not know when it passes. Board at a place with a time. The same place can be timed on one bus and via on another.
  • -- means that bus does not go there at all.

On My Bus, a place buses only pass gets a page saying so, with the stops either side where you can board instead.

The title is a name, not a list of stops

A timetable’s title, like “Fisantekraal – Durbanville – Cape Town”, names the route. It does not promise every bus stops at every place in it. On 0015 01, the only trip from Fisantekraal does not go through Durbanville, and some trips never reach Cape Town. On route 0044, one trip passes through Bellville, a place in its title, without a published stop there. The grid of times is what counts.

Leaving first doesn’t mean arriving first

Buses on the same route can overtake each other in the schedule. On 0193 01, the 05:15 from Strand was due at Artscape at 07:00, before the 04:50 Monday to Thursday bus at 07:05. If you are meeting someone off a bus, look at arrival times, not departures.

Journey times vary, too. Trips on 0193 01 that stop at exactly the same places took from 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes, end to end. Check the time for your bus rather than assuming they are all the same.

Effective dates and end dates

Each timetable says when it takes effect. The two directions of one route can have different dates: in the route 0193 document, 0193 01 and 0193 02 took effect months apart. Some timetables also carry an end date, often for a short-term change. After that date the timetable no longer applies.

Every timetable page on My Bus lists the timetable numbers its times come from, with their dates. If a timetable has passed its end date and no replacement has been added yet, the page says so rather than show old times as current.

Names cut short

Place names are printed in a fixed-width column, so long names are cut off: Artscape appears as ARTSCAPE (HERTZOG BL. GABS also uses short names for some places, such as TOWN CENTRE for Mitchells Plain Town Centre. My Bus shows the full name where we know it.

Spotted something wrong?

If a time on this site doesn’t match what you see at the stop or in the PDF, use the “These times look wrong?” link on that page, or send feedback. For what the times can and can’t tell you, read what scheduled times mean.