Privacy, terms & disclaimers

Better Gautrain is an independent web app that helps visitors view Gautrain route, fare, station and departure information more quickly. Better Gautrain is not Gautrain, the Gautrain Management Agency, the Bombela Concession Company, a train operator, a travel agent or an emergency service.

For this notice, “we”, “us” and “our” means the operator of Better Gautrain. “You” means any visitor or user of the app.

2.1 South African privacy framework

South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) regulates the processing of personal information by public and private bodies. We aim to follow POPIA's principles of lawful, minimal and purpose-limited processing.

2.2 Information you provide or generate in the app

The app does not require account registration. Based on the current product features, the app may process the following information when you use it:

• Route selections: the origin and destination stations you choose.
• Route query coordinates: station coordinates sent to the app's route API so it can request timetable and fare results.
• Saved preferences on your device: theme choice, favourite routes, pinned route, route-usage timestamps used for suggestions, and cached route results. These are stored in your browser's local storage and are not account data.
• Technical information: standard server, hosting, security and error logs may include information such as IP address, request URL, user agent, timestamps and error details. These logs are used to keep the app secure and reliable.
• Tip/payment information: if you click the tip link, you leave Better Gautrain and use PayBru or its payment providers. Better Gautrain does not collect your card details through this app.

2.3 Information we do not intentionally collect

We do not intentionally ask for your name, ID number, phone number, email address, precise live GPS location, Gautrain card number, account password, biometric information, children's information or special personal information through the app's main timetable features.

2.4 Why we process information

We process the limited information above to:

• show route options, departures, durations and fares;
• save your preferences and favourite routes on your device;
• suggest regular trips at similar times of day;
• cache recent route results so the app remains useful if a live lookup fails;
• maintain, debug, secure and improve the app; and
• comply with legal duties or respond to lawful requests where required.

2.5 Legal basis under POPIA

Where POPIA applies, we rely on consent where you choose to use app features, performance of the service you request, our legitimate interest in operating and securing the app, and legal compliance where applicable.

2.6 Sharing and third parties

To provide the service, route coordinates and timetable requests may be sent to Gautrain's publicly accessible commuter route and timetable services via Better Gautrain's API. Hosting and infrastructure providers may process technical logs on our behalf. If you use the tip link, PayBru and payment providers process that interaction under their own legal notices.

We do not sell your personal information and do not use the app's route preferences for third-party direct marketing.

2.7 Cookies, local storage and service worker

Better Gautrain uses browser local storage for preferences, favourites, route suggestions and cached results. The app also registers a service worker to support installable-app and offline/resilience behaviour. You can clear this data by clearing your browser's site data for Better Gautrain.

2.8 Retention

Local-storage data remains on your device until you delete it, clear site data, or the app overwrites it. Route suggestion usage is capped in the app. Technical logs, if kept by the hosting environment, should be retained only for as long as needed for security, debugging, analytics, legal or operational purposes.

2.9 Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures appropriate for a lightweight public transport web app. No website or network transmission is guaranteed to be completely secure.

2.10 Cross-border processing

Hosting, infrastructure, payment or upstream timetable providers may process information in South Africa or other countries. Where applicable, we aim to use providers and transfers that support reasonable confidentiality and security protections.

2.11 Your POPIA rights

Subject to POPIA and other applicable laws, you may have rights to ask whether we hold your personal information, request access, request correction or deletion, object to processing, withdraw consent where consent is the basis for processing, and complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa).

Because most preference data is stored locally in your browser, the fastest way to delete it is usually to clear Better Gautrain's site data in your browser settings.

3.1 Unofficial service

Better Gautrain is an unofficial tool and is not endorsed by, sponsored by or affiliated with Gautrain unless explicitly stated. Gautrain names, station names, timetable data and route information belong to their respective owners or operators.

3.2 No travel guarantee

Timetables, fares, disruptions, train availability, station access, parking, airport travel times and safety conditions can change. Always check official Gautrain channels and station announcements before relying on a trip, especially for airport, work, school, medical, legal, interview or other time-critical travel.

3.3 Use at your own risk

The app is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent permitted by South African law, we do not accept liability for losses, missed trains, missed flights, delays, incorrect fares, service interruptions, data loss or indirect damages arising from use of the app.

3.4 Acceptable use

You must not misuse the app, including by:

• attempting to disrupt, scrape aggressively, overload or reverse engineer the service;
• using the app for unlawful, fraudulent or harmful activity;
• interfering with security features or other users' access; or
• misrepresenting Better Gautrain as an official Gautrain channel.

3.5 Changes and availability

We may change, suspend or discontinue any part of the app at any time. We may update this legal page when features, providers or laws change. Continued use after an update means you accept the updated terms, to the extent allowed by law.