Buses

A dollar or two will get you most places on this island. You just have to know how it works — and it isn't a timetable.

There is no schedule

The routes

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How to ride one

  1. Stand where a bus can stop
    There are marked stops, but a bus will pick you up almost anywhere it can safely pull in. Not on a bend, not on the causeway.
  2. Check the sign in the windscreen
    It says where the bus is going. Ask the driver if you can't see it — everybody does.
  3. Put your hand out
    A raised hand is the whole system. If it's full it will drive past; another will be along.
  4. Say good morning
    Genuinely — greeting the driver and the other passengers is normal here, and not doing it is noticed.
  5. Say "bus stop, please" when you're near
    There's no bell and no button. Speak up a little before you want to get out.
  6. Pay as you step off
    Not when you get on. Hand it to the driver on your way out — small bills, and don't expect change for a twenty.

Knowing it's a bus

B-142
Licensed buses carry a B plate — the letter before the number tells you what a vehicle is licensed as. Anything else offering you a lift for money isn't a bus. What the other plate letters mean →

Worth knowing

Cash only, small bills
Dollars everywhere; euros on the French side. No cards, no apps. A $20 for a $1.50 fare will make you unpopular.
They fill up, then they go
A bus that looks like it's waiting for nothing is waiting for passengers. At rush hour they come constantly; at 4pm on a Saturday you might wait.
Crossing the border is normal
No checkpoint, no passport for the bus. Route 1 goes to Marigot, route 4 to French Quarter, and the French-side buses run from Marigot station.
Under 3 and over 65 ride free
On the Dutch side.
After dark, take a taxi
Buses thin out in the evening and effectively stop. Taxi fares are fixed by zone — check before you get in.
Luggage and big shopping
A backpack is fine. A suitcase or a week's groceries, less so — it's a minibus with every seat sold.

Routes and fares are collected from public sources and from people who ride them; drivers vary a route when it suits, and fares creep. If something here is wrong — or you know the real evening cut-off on a route — tell us and we'll fix it. There is no official timetable to check it against, which is exactly why this page exists.