Gautrain to Park Station first, then Rea Vaya into the city
Rea Vaya Feeder only comes into play after you leave O. R. Tambo and reach central Johannesburg, usually via the Gautrain from the airport station to Park Station in about 20 minutes. There is no Rea Vaya stop at JNB itself, so treat it as a secondary leg once you are already in the CBD or around Soweto, not as a direct airport bus.
Think of Rea Vaya as a budget BRT grid for inner Johannesburg, with trunks and feeders linking spots like Soweto, Braamfontein, and the CBD. Fares on main routes often sit in the low double‑digit rand range, so you can keep a full airport‑to‑town‑to‑suburb run under about R100–R120 if you pair Gautrain plus Rea Vaya instead of using a metered taxi all the way.
Buses run most reliably in daytime and early evening, with core services running roughly between 05:00 and 21:00 on weekdays, and shorter spans on Sundays and public holidays. Schedules change by corridor, so check the latest timetable for your exact line number before you leave the Gautrain level under Terminal A or B at O. R. Tambo.
Locals point out online that Rea Vaya’s focus sits on inner‑city and Soweto corridors, so you usually ride Gautrain or a taxi from the airport, then switch to Rea Vaya at Park Station or Gandhi Square. Johannesburg residents on Reddit say they almost never try to build a three‑leg combo (Rea Vaya + Gautrain + airport) for late‑night flights out of terminals A or B.
Watch out for inconsistent service and occasional disruptions; some users in 2019–2023 threads reported missed or delayed buses, which can wreck a tight check‑in cutoff for international departures that close 60 minutes before takeoff. If you still want to use Rea Vaya as part of an airport day, build at least a 90‑minute buffer between stepping off your last bus and the time the airline desk closes.
What regulars do: they tap Gautrain from O. R. Tambo to Park Station, walk the few hundred meters to their Rea Vaya stop, then ride a single trunk line out toward places like Thokoza Park instead of changing buses twice. If you land at JNB after about 18:00, they usually skip the bus entirely and grab a rideshare from Terminal A or B arrivals because frequencies thin out quickly.
- Step 1: From Terminals A or B arrivals, follow signs to the Gautrain station in about 5–10 minutes on foot.
- Step 2: Load at least R200 onto a Gautrain card at the machines to cover the airport premium plus a top‑up.
- Step 3: Ride Gautrain from OR Tambo to Park Station (about 20 minutes with no transfers).
- Step 4: Exit toward the CBD side and walk to the nearest Rea Vaya stop, often under 10 minutes from Park Station depending on your corridor.
- Step 5: Tap in on the Rea Vaya platform, board the correct trunk or feeder bus by route number, and keep an eye on the clock if you need to get back to JNB for a flight.
One tip: if your arrival or departure at JNB falls outside roughly 07:00–18:00, treat Rea Vaya as a city‑only tool and stick to Gautrain plus a taxi or rideshare for the airport link.