There is a very efficient public transport system on the island, run by the Tiadhe bus company.
Their website is https://tiadhe.com/en/our-routes/ and on that page you can see the bus routes. If you click on the Ver Horario link it will give you the bus timetables and the cost of the journey. You can also translate the page to English.
Most routes leave and return to the bus station in the capital, Puerto del Rosario.
On all island bus routes you can buy a new credit card size discount card(Bono) from the bus driver. It costs 2 euros and you can buy 10 euros minimum of credit for it. Further multiples of 5 euros can be added to it, up to a maximum of 50 euros. This card gives 5% discount on all bus journeys.
In Caleta there is a bus station just off the main road near the Castillo roundabout, and a stop at the Atlantico Commercial Centre. The buses that use these stops are the Numbers 3, 10 and 16.
It’s possible to have a full day out around the island:
I was interested to see how much of the island could be visited in one day by using the bus service.
The plan was:
a) to catch the Number 3 bus from Caleta de Fuste to Puerto del Rosario bus station at around 7.45am
b) to catch the Number 1 bus from Puerto del Rosario bus station to Morro Jable at 8.30am
c) to catch the Number 10 bus from Morro Jable to Puerto del Rosario at 11.30am
d) to catch the Number 6 bus from Puerto del Rosario to Corralejo at 2.00pm
e) to catch the Number 8 bus from Corralejo to El Cotillo at 3.00pm
f) to catch the Number 7 bus from El Cotillo to Puerto del Rosario at 5.00pm
g) to catch the Number 3 bus from Puerto del Rosario to Caleta de Fuste at 6.30pm
I asked my son to do the trip, and he set off on Thursday 16 May 2013. I had worked out that the cost would be 33 euros.
So off he went! We weren’t sure about the exact timings of the journeys but we do know that the service is efficient and punctual.
This is what happened!
The bus from Caleta got him to Puerto to enable him to catch the Number 1 bus to Morro Jable. This service is interesting because it goes inland first of all. So on the way the bus went to Casillas del Angel, Ampuyenta, and Antigua (which took 30 minutes). It then went on to Agua de Bueyes, Tiscamanita and to the bus station in Gran Tarajal. The bus then left Gran Tarajal at 09.30 and went on to La Lajita and Costa Calma (at around 10.00am); and then arrived in Morro Jable at 10.30.
There is then time to stretch your legs and have a look around Morro Jable and have something to eat.
The Number 10 bus then left the bus station at 11.30. It took 30 minutes to get to Costa Calma and another 30 minutes to get to Gran Tarajal. The bus then went straight up to Caleta de Fuste for 1.00pm and arrived in Puerto del Rosario at 1.30pm.
That gives you enough time for a toilet break and something to eat at the kiosk just outside the bus station.
The Number 6 left the bus station at 2.00pm and the trip up to Corralejo took 45 minutes. It’s then possible to pop over the road to the Eurospar for food and drink.
Then it’s on to the Number 8 to El Cotillo, which passed through Villaverde, La Oliva and Lajares. It took 45 minutes to get to El Cotillo.
There is then time to look around El Cotillo before catching the bus at 5pm from El Cotillo to Puerto. If there is someone on the bus that is going to Corralejo then the bus goes there on the way. On this occasion there wasn’t, so the bus came via La Oliva, Tindaya and Tetir to arrive in the Puerto bus station.
Then it was time to get the next bus back to Caleta de Fuste.
So he arrived back in Caleta at 7pm. The trip was a total of just over 300km and it had taken eleven and a quarter hours to see a lot of the island.