Bus from Santa Marta, CO to Cartagena, CO: Tickets & Timetables

Despite having reserved and bought seats on the direct 3 hour Unitransco bus, and getting to the terminal one hour before departure, at the ticket office in Santa Marta they put us on a much slower and later bus so we lost the entire afternoon. Not happy about it, especially since it was not explained

Not much info at station giving bus platform details. Left half hour late. Air-conditioning not efficient so very warm. Shambles at arrival as many taxi drivers swarming round door.

The bus stopped multiple times to let locals and sellers on which delayed our trip.

On 5/11 I attempted to board the bus departing from Santa Marta Bus Terminal Expreso Brasilia at 21:44 arriving at Cartagena Bus Terminal at 2:15am (6/11), for which I had purchased a valid ticket the day before. At the bus terminal in Santa Marta I was told that this bus did not exist and that the next one on this route would leave the following morning. As I was needing to catch a flight from Cartagena airport at 8am, this solution was not an option for me. Our Uber driver had informed us of another Expreso Brasilia terminal in Santa Marta so we quickly made our way there to check that we hadn’t gone to the wrong place, once we arrived we were frustratingly given the same response that this bus departing at 21:44 did not exist and the last one has left an hour earlier. After waiting at this 2nd terminal while deciding on a next step, an Expreso Brasilia bus pulled over and out of curiosity and desperation we asked the driver if he was going to Cartagena, to which he responded yes. Understandably we were relieved but this didn’t last long as I was told that I had to purchase a new ticket because the one I purchased through yourselves was apparently invalid. I of course argued my case but as the situation had put our flight in jeopardy I felt backed into a corner with no choice but to purchase a new ticket directly from the bus company.

The guy at the station put me on a different branchs’ bus because this 1oclock one wasn’t on the screen as a scheduled bus which was fine but tectonically this is about I think it was Unitransco, something like that. The bus ended up being almost 6 hours instead of 4.45 hrs. The first driver kept speeding so the loud beeping kept occurring and I was sat right at the front

- bus was very loud with no one respecting each other's surroundings (playing music and videos loudly) - there was a 40 minute stop after the planned stop in Baranquilla which delayed us alot - the seats didn't all recline - smelled of urine!

The Marsol staff are not very friendly or helpful, nor is anything done to the schedule. Our 10am direct bus didn’t leave Santa Marta until 10:40 and made multiple stops to get passengers and at one point for the driver to have a full sit down lunch while we all waited.

Driver was pretty wreckless and the toilet break was 4.5 hours into the 5 hour journey.

Fast, air conditioned mini bus. Arrived early. Central pickup and drop off locations. Only downside was no toilet onboard, ticket said there should have been.

It was very noisy on the bus, the bus was very late and we had to pay money to get our bags back when we lost our luggage tags

The bus we booked was not the bus they put us on. At arrival at the terminal, we were told we needed to change our ticket without explanation and then we were put on another bus that was 2 hours late with multiple stops. The bus was dirty and cold.

Arrived 1 hour late. On the way the driver stopped many times to accommodate street vendors on the bus to sell merchandise and food

The journey should take 4 hrs , however we arrived after 6 hrs. The seat was also broken.

Very bad service! Took 6 hours until we were in Cartagena, very cold in the bus, driver was driving wild

The bus was advertised as a 3 hour journey from 2pm to 5pm. We ended up getting thrown on an earlier bus at 1pm as we arrived earlier and didn’t arrive until 7:30pm