Vanuatu Transportation Tips by Jame$76

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: It seems that tourist transport is Vanuatu's main industry. There is a lot of traffic for a small island that essentially only has 1 main road! Taxis are indentified by a T on the number plate. Busses (or mini vans to be more correct) have a B on their number plates. We found there is essentially no difference between the services provided by busses and taxis - they both take you where you want to go (including picking up and dropping off anywhere - there are no scheduled stops). The only difference is that busses are a fraction of the cost of taxis. Busses cost 100 Vatu (about $1.30 AUS) regardless of how far the trip is. Taxis cost a minimum of about 500 Vatu (about $7 AUS) for a trip into town, or 2000 ($28 AUS) Vatu for any trip that involves the airport.

We paid a crazy 5000 Vatu (about $70 AUS) for a taxi ride to The Cascades (waterfall). Although the cost covered the return trip (with the driver waiting for us and taking other fares in between) this would still have to rate as one of the world's most expensive fares on a cost per distance basis. The round trip was about 20km. Apparently we weren't ripped off - this is just the accepted going rate.

The other thing is that every taxi driver doubles as a tour guide. They all want you to take their special island tour. You soon get used to politefully declining.

So the bottom line is always take a bus over a taxi, if you can.

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