Golden Arrow set to become SA’s first public bus service with an electric vehicle fleet

Electric vehicles (EVs) are the way of the future. And in the city of Cape Town, within two years, public transport will be quieter, smoother and less foul-smelling. 

By December 2025, Golden Arrow Bus Service will have no fewer than 60 electric buses on Cape Town’s roads, as part of its fleet renewal programme. 

The bus service, owned by Frontier Transport — a JSE-listed company, of which Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) is the biggest shareholder — is the biggest public transport bus service operator in the city.

Founded in 1861, Golden Arrow Bus Service operates a fleet of about 1,200 buses, with more than 220,000 commuters using the service daily. 

The bus service has conducted more than 100,000km of testing since early 2021, in which it put four EV buses — three BYDs from China and a German MAN — through their paces. The BYD buses were built in China and imported, while the MAN chassis was imported and built in Olifantsfontein, outside Tshwane. 

Gideon Neethling, the chief engineer at Golden Arrow Bus Service, told Daily Maverick that the service buys five new buses per month. “From now, they’ll be EVs, not diesel buses, as part of our fleet renewal programme.”

Golden Arrow first started testing two 37-seater BYD buses, then added another 65-seater bus, built to Golden Arrow Bus Service’s specification, and a MAN bus, which was launched on 28 September.  

“We will be testing the bus on [MAN’s] behalf for 12 months. It is important for manufacturers and operators to do the testing and share the results to ensure that the potential areas for improvement are included in future models.”

The buses are extremely quiet: “You only hear road noise. It’s fantastic to listen to the reduction in noise,” he explained, adding that EVs are more energy-efficient in traffic, unlike vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEs).

“When you’re stationary, there’s zero energy being used. It’s built for stop-start, plus, when you take your foot off the pedal, the vehicle continues due to its momentum turning the wheels and the motor switches over to become a generator. It’s like a golf cart.” 

The buses are charged at one of Golden Arrow Bus Service’s three depots, which have 120KWh plated chargers that boost the battery by 100km for an hour of charging. The company plans to install solar panels at all its carports and bus parking depots.

Golden Arrow Bus Service owns 22 hectares of property, which it envisages will be covered with photovoltaic panels in the next few years, Neethling explained during the launch of the MAN bus in September.



“We take people to work in the morning and back home [in the evening]. In the middle of the day, our buses are stationary, so each bus is averaging only 200km daily. And they have two charging opportunities per day, with an energy mixture of solar and grid. Golden Arrow Bus Service generates substantially more electricity than we need, which we feed into the City of Cape Town’s grid.”

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