Bus and metro: the island without a car

Doing without a car in Mauritius is possible, and it is even a way of seeing the island at closer quarters, among the people who live there. Two networks share public transport between them. The bus goes everywhere. The Metro Express, a light rail line, follows the most densely populated corridor in the country, from Port Louis to Curepipe through the towns of the plateau.

Unlike the metro, bus routes cover the whole island. There are two kinds, ordinary buses and express buses: the latter, faster and air-conditioned, run less often, but are well worth choosing when you can. In Port Louis, the two main bus stations are Victoria Square and Immigration Square. On ordinary routes, a bus generally comes along about every fifteen minutes. Service stops in the evening, and Mauritians then readily take a taxi: the safest course is to ask the hotel reception or your host for the timetable of your route before setting out.

The largest operator is the National Transport Corporation, a public company that came into service on 12 March 1980 after taking over the assets of the former Vacoas Transport. In 2026, it runs around 500 buses on more than 97 routes, operates more than 3,000 trips a day and carries some 130,000 passengers daily. Its fleet includes 105 electric buses, 100 of them donated by the Indian government and 5 by China.

Fares are set by regulation, on the basis of the number of sections travelled. The scale that came into force on 8 May 2022 starts at 17 rupees for an adult over one section, rises to 30 rupees at the third, reaches 44 rupees from the thirteenth and tops out at 47 rupees beyond thirty sections. A child paid from 8 to 21 rupees. A few routes had their own scale: the 38 and 38A, which link La Louise to Ebene via Phoenix and Trianon, cost 26 rupees a journey.

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The Metro Express

The light rail began commercial operation on 10 January 2020 between Port Louis and Rose Hill, after two weeks of free service, from 22 December 2019 to 5 January 2020. It has since been extended southwards. In 2022, the line had twenty stations, from Curepipe Central to Port Louis Immigration, by way of Floréal, Vacoas, Phoenix, Trianon, Quatre Bornes, Rose Hill, Beau Bassin, Barkly, Coromandel and Saint-Louis. It runs on electricity, and the energy recovered under braking is used to light the stations and power the ticket machines.

The price of a journey is calculated in sections, from one to five. In 2022, an adult paid 35 rupees for one section, 45 for three and 55 for five, which was the fare from Curepipe Central to Port Louis. A child paid from 15 to 27 rupees.

Two kinds of fare are available. The single-use paper ticket is valid for one journey only. The MECard is a prepaid smart card that can be topped up at will, and from which each journey is deducted on the basis of the stations of departure and arrival; it saves 5 to 10 per cent on the fare. The adult MECard and the ticket are sold at the machines in every station, which accept cash and bank cards. The child MECard, on the other hand, is sold at the ticket office of Rose Hill Central station. Credit loaded on the card remains valid for three years after the last top-up, and the card itself is designed to last about ten years.

The step not to forget is a double one: tap your card on the reader before boarding, then again on leaving. Anyone who forgets the second tap is charged, after 90 minutes, the price of the longest possible journey from their station of departure. Inspectors move through the trains and the stations, equipped with readers, and travelling without having paid exposes you to a fine of up to 5,000 rupees and a prison term of no more than two years.

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Combining the two

For a visitor, the most natural combination is to take the metro along the urban corridor of the plateau, and the bus to reach the coast or the villages. Distances remain modest: the island measures about 45 kilometres from east to west and 61 from north to south. What matters, then, is not so much the distance as the time of day. Three habits make everything simpler: set off early, keep change for the bus and credit on your metro card, and plan on a taxi for the journey back in the evening, once the buses have returned to the depot.