Of course that was so good I had to repeat it. Left the office in Sandton at 14h10. Walked to a bus stop about 150 metres away. Hopped onto the S1 that came by a few minutes later (and tooted at me as I was still busy studying the time table on the sign post – I think he was desperate for some custom as again I was the only passenger). All my Jo’burg friends are amazed when I mention the Gautrain bus service. Many haven’t heard of it and the rest have no idea how it works.

At 14h30 I was at Sandton station waving my Gold card. This time I took an elevator down, though had to use an escalator for the final bit. Again a train arrived on the platform at the same time that I did and again there was a small throng of pax waiting. This time I boarded the first coach knowing it would be the closest to the station exit at ORT. There were no fewer than 4 policemen on our section of the train and one of them said they patrol regularly.

We slid away at exactly 14h40 and belted our way to Marlboro. On the way to Rhodesfield our driver announced that we were travelling at 160kph – so this time I got the full monty. The train is remarkably quiet and smooth but it does give quite sharp sideways jolts from time to time. This time we sidled into ORT station exactly on time at 14h55. Precisely 45 minutes after I stepped out of my Sandton meeting! ^

It was all so intoxicatingly clockwork and fast that it felt desperately anticlimactic to have to walk the seemingly endless distance to the far end of the domestic terminal. After all it did add significantly to my total journey time.