Transportation in St. Maarten

January 10, 2021
Island Info

The first being public transportation in small buses that drive all over the place. There aren’t any schedules, all you need to do is stand by the main road and wave one over. They have a little sign on their windshield with their destination. It costs on average around $2 for a one way and can be more or less depending on the distance you will be travelling. When you see a place you want to jump off, just shout nice and loud “Stop Please”, pay the driver and hop out. That is all there is to it. The buses travel between Philipsburg, Marigot ,Maho and Orient Bay. Buses do also go to other destinations on the island but those usually aren’t of any interest to you if you aren’t local because there isn’t much to see other than residential houses and local residential areas deep within the island.The second way to get around is via the numerous taxis, however, you will find that it will get very expensive to rely just on taxis. The third way to travel is to simply rent a car from one of the many rental car companies. It is very cheap and affordable to rent a car, around $25 a day. It is also very easy to drive around due to the simple road way system and small island.We highly recommend renting a car because it is affordable and easy to get around with your own car. With public transportation, you will do a lot of standing around the main roads which isn’t really fun. You will also gain easy access to the many bars, restaurants and spectacular beaches! Bridges in St. Maarten There are two bridges in St. Maarten/St. Martin that connect the Lowlands ,Maho, Simpson Bay, Sandy Ground and Nettle Bay to the rest of the island. There is one bridge on the French side and another on the Dutch side. The bridges are used to allow entry to the lagoon for boats coming from sea and can get rather exciting when there are windy conditions, especially for the captains. When the bridges open, all traffic is instantly stopped in the Simpson Bay area and also in the Sandy Ground area causing more traffic further away too. Do avoid theses areas at the below times: Dutch Side(December to April)Outbound 09h00, 11h00 & 16h30Inbound 09h30, 11h30 & 17h30(May to November)Out and Inbound 09h30, 11h30, 17h30 French Side Monday to Saturday08h15, 14h30 & 17h30Sunday08h15 & 17h30TrafficSt. Maarten/St. Martin experiences heavy congestion in the morning from 08h00 till 09h00 and in the evening from16h00 till 18h00, we advise avoiding Simpson Bay, Marigot, Cole Bay, Simpson Bay and Phillipsburg during these rush hours.

St. Maarten Excursions

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