TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Public buses/van use from Grand Case

Use of public buses from/to grand case. We will be in grand case in November and are curious about these. We would like to travel to other beaches without the worry of driving our rental car. We were in grand case last April and never saw a bus stop. Just not sure how the system works. Times? Where do they go? And how do u know if/when they come back. Do they take u to the Dutch side also. Thanks in advance for help!

The buses usually do not go into the village of Grand Case.
You have to go out to the main road to catch them.Best to take your rental car to the beaches.

Busses are not really a very reliable source of transportation on SXM, especially for getting to the beaches. They travel pretty much on the main roads. For example with regard to Orient, they will stay only on the main road, and you will have a VERY long walk to get to the water. In general, you really need to use your car to get around.

As another person mentioned, you need to go to the main road to catch the bus. Best spot is at the fork in the road down near Enold's. There is no schedule, per se - the busses basically run their routes endlessly throughout the day but, with traffic and construction, they can sometimes come by ever 30-45 minutes or it could be 1-2 hours. You basically have to just wait. The earlier in the morning, the better, as they haven't had the "chance" to encounter too many delays by that point. Look for vans that have cardboard signs inside the windshield with the destination printed on them. Very affordable but can often be very crowded and unreliable. It's worth trying once, if only to experience a local thing!