Palawan: San Jose Bus Terminal

This will be sort of a prelude of my El Nido series.  I’ll be putting up latest info from getting there to accommodations, what to do/see, to getting out of there.  I’m planning to take a week off to El Nido.

Yesterday, I went to San Jose (New Market) bus terminal to check out the schedule of Cherry bus lines.  The RORO is suspended to operate, I’m not sure until when but I think it started a couple of weeks ago.  So the options are either the Cherry bus – who must be very happy taking the place of RORO at least temporarily until the latter gets their suspension lifted – and of course the usual more expensive commuter vans like Fortwally, Eulen Joy (now, that sounds like you will really enjoy), Daytripper, and other cheaper non-aircon buses.

The terminal can be reached by multicabs and tricycles from the city centre.  Look for multicabs which has a sign of San Jose, pay 10 pesos and ask the driver to drop you off the new market or terminal.  Tricycle are faster if you hire it private if you’re in a hurry or in a group of 5 or less at 50 to 80 pesos depending on your bargaining skills, but you can of course take a shared one at 12 pesos.

The bus terminal is right at the end of the market stalls.  If you’re taking the Cherry bus lines, they have a booth manned by a helpful lovely petite girl who will be giving you the schedule of the bus and who likewise gave me the info that most island hopping tours in El Nido are suspended due to the weather.  If you’re planning to come to El Nido and would like to book in advance, you can do that too, she’ll give you a booking sheet and you can choose your seats, time and date of your travel.  You can also do that by calling their reservation numbers.

Transports that goes to the south (Rizal, Quezon) and the north (Roxas, Taytay, El Nido) starts and ends at the San Jose terminal.   You can find various types of long haul vehicles here from big jeepneys overburdened with huge baggages on top of it, minibuses, big buses both airconditioned and non-airconditioned.  The terminal is not that big, so it’s easy to navigate, there’s a Dunkin Donuts at the corner end, Master Siomai in the middle of the paved road beside it is an ice cream booth and the depot of multicabs heading to the city centre.  Several stalls also line the terminal shade selling food, drinks, nibbles and other knick knacks, even pirated DVDs, mobile phone, gadgets and loads, clothing, an information table at the far right and several benches stretching the mid.

The RORO bus line booth is at the left end of the terminal, but for now, they’re not open for business.

You can buy some fruits at the market stalls before you board your bus at the new market and of course anything you forgot to bring like personal hygiene stuff.

According to the weather forecast today (September 21, 2013), there’s gonna be a typhoon and I’m planning to head to El Nido, the contact at the bus station in El Nido informed me that it's windy and raining there so postponed.

I hope the weather gets better tomorrow, I’ll be hopping on the early morning bus to El Nido.

  

BUT, if you want convenience,a transport right from exiting Puerto Princesa airport terminal direct to El Nido, you can easily book a seat on the faster airconditioned van at 600 pesos per head.