Capital Coach Bus Line

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Capital Coach Bus Line

Comfortable seats.

On my second trip to Port this fall I took the Capital Coach Bus which is new to Les Cayes. As of this writing they leave Les Cayes everyday at 5am and 1pm to go to Port au Prince. (I hear they go to the Dominican Republic too, and you can make reservations on-line). The Les Cayes bus station is along National Highway 2 between the Arch as you enter the city and the Meridian Hotel, on the north side of the street. The ticket is 500gds, or $15.00 US (cheaper to pay in goudes). Walk up to the window and give them your name and phone number. If you already have your ticket be at the station ½ hour before the bus departs, there are seats in the shade.

These are big touring buses, with comfortable seats, bathroom, and movie screens. You can put large luggage underneath the bus, and smaller bags over the seat. Take valuables with you inside the bus, the bus lets out people along the way and they get into the luggage compartment below and you can’t see what they are doing.

The trip to Port took 4 hours and we watched Battleship twice. The bus didn’t stop til it got to Port and dropped off some people near the airport (across the street, so you’d have to lug your stuff across the highway and walk to the airport entrance). Then we stopped at the main bus station by the US Embassy (across from Sugar Cane Museum). This station has a parking lot so it is very convenient for pick up and drop off.

The return trip back to Les Cayes took over 8 hours! I bought my ticket at 3pm that day when the office open and the bus left the station on time at 4pm. Then we got stuck in traffic for 3 hours at Carrefour, a place just west of Port notorious for traffic. It’s only 6 miles from the stadium/Transport Chic bus station. It was dark and raining, and we were there long enough to see the water rise in the road to calf-height and then recede. The first movie seemed half decent – a kung fu/martial arts thing, but dubbed in French and I was tired so I didn’t pay attention. The next two movies were R rated and I didn’t pay attention. We got through 2 whole movies before the bus made it through the traffic and was on open road. Then I fell asleep and woke up shortly before we reached Cayes at 12:25am.

I recommend Capital over Transport Chic if you want the most comfortable ride and convenient pick up/drop off place in Port. But Transport Chic is good enough, cheaper, and has more departure times.