Field note · Guyana · Demerara-Mahaica (Region 4)

Georgetown

In Guyana a bus is a minibus, it runs a numbered route, and almost every route starts or ends in the tangle of parks around Stabroek Market. A conductor hangs out of the door calling the destination, the music is loud, and the bus leaves when it is full rather than when it is due. Beside the minibuses are route taxis, which are ordinary cars running a fixed line for a fixed seat fare, and hire cars, which are the same cars taken as a whole for a named drop – every taxi in the country carries an H registration. The city's geography is rivers, and 2025 changed the biggest of them: the new four-lane cable-stayed Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge was commissioned on 5 October 2025, the old floating harbour bridge that used to retract for shipping has been left permanently open, and crossings of the Demerara, Berbice and Linden bridges were made toll-free from 1 August 2025. The Berbice bridge still floats and still swings open for about an hour and a half a day at a tide-driven time that moves later every day; the company publishes the month ahead. West of the city the road stops at Parika, where a government ferry and a fleet of speedboats cross the Essequibo to Supenaam and Bartica. East, the Corentyne crossing to Suriname is in trouble: the MV Canawaima was suspended for six days in August 2026 and is running on a provisional licence, and Guyana has formally opened the small-boat backtrack as a fallback. For the interior you fly from Eugene F. Correia at Ogle, or you take the 18:00 minibus down the Linden to Lethem trail and cross the Essequibo on the Kurupukari pontoon, which is still a pontoon.

Researched: 28 September 2026
Reviewed: not yet
Ways of moving: 12, 39 sources
Not confirmed: 9
Fares seen: 2025

How transport works here

12 ways of moving, each with its rule

We confirmed eight ways of moving to, from or around Georgetown: three by road, one hired or on demand, one by air and three by water, from 39 sources. Four entries are not a service at all but a rule that decides whether travel happens: a permit, a closure, a border, a season or an authority's say-so. Four of them run only on demand or when the seats are full, so there is no timetable to show; the rule is written where the timetable would be. One needs a phone call or a message before you turn up.

The fares were seen in 2025; a fare from an older year is a floor, not a price. Nine fares carry no year, because they could not be confirmed and the field says so. We rate 4 of the 12 high confidence, our own judgement of the sources. The entry was checked on 28 September 2026, and ends with nine things we could not confirm.

3 ways

By road

minibus

Georgetown numbered minibuses

Stabroek Market bus parks out along every named route: 40, 42, 44, 45, 32 to Parika, 63 down the East Coast to Corriverton, 72 to Mahdia

The parks sit around Stabroek Market and each route has its own patch – ask for the number, not the destination, and be ready for touts who work the parks and will steer you into a bus for a cut. Buses leave when they fill. The conductor takes the fare in the bus, not before you board, and will usually put you out on the main road rather than at your door; a short taxi drop finishes the trip. Works are periodically rearranging the parks: a recreational platform built outside Stabroek from November 2025 displaced the Lodge, Guyhoc and South Ruimveldt buses and the delivery trucks with them, so the stand you were told about may have moved a street.

When: All day and into the night on the city routes, leaving when full
Takes: 15 to 45 minutes across the city; 45 minutes to Parika
Fare: About G$60 a ride within Georgetown, rising to around G$1,000 on the longest coastal runs, and about G$500 on the number 32 to Parika. Figures are undated and fares have been disputed repeatedly between operators and government

SeasonYear-round. BookingNone, pay the conductor. Run byprivate minibus owners, organised by route association.

share taxi

Route taxis

Short fixed lines out of Stabroek and the other city parks, and between coastal villages

A route taxi is an ordinary saloon car running a set line and selling seats, four or five passengers at a time. It sits in a line at the park with the route shouted or chalked up, and goes when the last seat sells, so it fills faster than a 15-seater minibus and is the quicker option on a short hop. You pay a per-seat fare, not the car. The car will be an H-plate like every other taxi in Guyana; the difference from a hire car is that you are buying one seat on a fixed line, not the whole vehicle to a destination of your choosing.

When: Through the day, leaving when full
Takes: 10 to 30 minutes on a city line
Fare: Per seat and lower than taking the whole car; no official tariff is published and figures quoted by travellers are undated

SeasonYear-round. BookingNone, pay the driver. Run byindependent owner-drivers.

minibus

Overnight minibus to Lethem

Georgetown to Linden, then down the Linden to Lethem trail through Mabura Hill, Kurupukari and the Rupununi savannah to Lethem on the Brazilian border

Minibuses leave Georgetown every evening around 18:00 and get into Lethem around midday the next day. Ask at the Interserv bus office on Charlotte Street downtown; take a taxi to it after dark, because that area is not somewhere to walk at night. The full-size buses that used to run this route, and could take 36 hours in the rain, have been discontinued, so the 15-seaters are what is left. From Linden onwards it is dirt with a great many potholes, so do not expect to sleep. At Lethem you walk or take a taxi across to Bonfim in Brazil, where the road to Boa Vista is paved.

When: Nightly, around 18:00 from Georgetown; runs all year including the wet season
Takes: about 18 hours in the dry; far longer when the trail is wet
Fare: Around G$9,000 to G$10,000 one way, undated

SeasonYear-round, but the wet season roughly doubles the journey time. BookingAt the bus office, a day or more ahead in the Easter rodeo season. Run byprivate minibus operators booked through the Interserv office on Charlotte Street.

One way

Hired, booked and on demand

private hire

Hire cars and airport taxis

Anywhere in Georgetown; set-price runs to Cheddi Jagan airport, Ogle and Moleson Creek

Every taxi in Guyana has a registration beginning with H. In town you take the whole car for a drop, and a drop has a customary price rather than a meter, so agree it before you get in. Ask your hotel for a driver, take his number and use the same one; that is how residents do it. At Cheddi Jagan the airport corporation runs an official service whose drivers wear a cream shirt jack and black trousers and carry a badge, and recommends you use it rather than the drivers who approach you in arrivals. Taking a hire car at night is the normal advice around Stabroek and the bus parks.

When: On demand, around the clock
Takes: 45 to 60 minutes airport to town depending on traffic
Fare: Around G$400 to G$500 for a drop within the city, about G$5,000 or US$25 from Cheddi Jagan airport to town, G$1,500 from Ogle to downtown and about G$24,000 to Moleson Creek. Customary rather than regulated, and the figures are undated

SeasonYear-round. BookingPhone a service or your hotel's driver; at the airport use the official desk. Run bymany small taxi services; the CJIA official taxi service at the airport.

One way

By air

scheduled flight

Interior flights from Eugene F. Correia (Ogle)

Eugene F. Correia International Airport, Ogle, 11 km from Georgetown, to Lethem, Kaieteur, Mahdia, Fairview and the hinterland airstrips; also Paramaribo Zorg-en-Hoop

Ogle, not Cheddi Jagan, is the hub for domestic flying, and the difference matters because the two airports are 30 km apart. Aircraft are 4 to 12-seat Cessnas and 19-seat Beechcraft, serving over 160 active airstrips. Air Services Limited, Trans Guyana Airways and Roraima Airways have the scheduled fleets; Jags Aviation and S&R Flight Services charter. Lethem has two flights a day except Sunday. Kaieteur is sold as a day tour leaving about 13:00 and back around 17:00, and the airline will only go with a full plane, so a one-way seat is hard to buy. Non-citizens need a passport even on a domestic sector.

When: Lethem twice daily except Sunday; Kaieteur day tours most days subject to a full load
Takes: about 1 hour Georgetown to Lethem; about 1 hour each way to Kaieteur
Fare: Trans Guyana quoted G$30,000 one way and G$55,000 return to Lethem, and Kaieteur day tours around US$190 per person; both figures are undated on the source and should be confirmed with the airline

SeasonYear-round; weather cancels interior sectors in the wet. BookingThrough the airline or any Georgetown hotel. Baggage on scheduled interior flights is limited to 20 pounds, about 9 kg, per person, with extra weight paid for before the flight and not guaranteed space. Run byAir Services Limited, Trans Guyana Airways, Roraima Airways.

4 ways

Rules, permits and closures

service status

The Demerara crossing after October 2025

Peter's Hall, East Bank Demerara, to Versailles, West Bank Demerara

Everything travellers were told about the Demerara Harbour Bridge is now history. The new four-lane, high-span, cable-stayed Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge was commissioned on 5 October 2025 after a US$260 million build by China Railway Construction, and it does not open for shipping at all – vessels pass beneath it around the clock. The old floating pontoon bridge alongside, which used to retract on a published daily schedule and stop road traffic for an hour or more, has been left permanently retracted and its spans are being moved elsewhere, with the retractor and acceptor spans earmarked for a Timehri to Sand Hills crossing. So there is no longer a retraction time to plan around, and crossings are free: the President announced on 23 March 2025 that the Demerara, Berbice and Linden bridges would be toll-free from 1 August 2025. Traffic has responded, averaging over 50,000 vehicles a day.

When: Open continuously, no retractions
Takes: minutes
Fare 2025: Free to cross since 1 August 2025

SeasonYear-round. Run byMinistry of Public Works.

service status

Berbice River Bridge daily opening

D'Edwards, West Bank Berbice, to Crab Island near New Amsterdam, about two hours east of Georgetown

Unlike the Demerara, the Berbice bridge is still a floating bridge and it still swings open for shipping every day. Each opening lasts an hour and a half, and the time is tidal, so it slides roughly 35 to 45 minutes later each day and then wraps round: in the second half of September 2026 it ran from 06:20 on the 15th through to 15:55 on the 26th. The Berbice Bridge Company publishes the coming month on berbicebridge.com under Bridge Schedule, and it is the one thing to check before committing to a Corentyne or New Amsterdam run, because an hour and a half stopped on the approach ruins a connection to the Suriname ferry.

When: One opening a day, lasting 1h 30m, at a time that shifts later daily
Takes: 1h 30m closed to road traffic per opening
Fare 2025: Crossings were made toll-free from 1 August 2025, although the bridge company's website still displays its old toll table

SeasonYear-round. BookingNone; check the published monthly schedule before you travel. Run byBerbice Bridge Company Inc, D'Edwards Village, West Bank Berbice, tel 327-5466.

border crossing

Moleson Creek to South Drain, the Suriname crossing

Moleson Creek terminal on the Corentyne, reached by the number 63 minibus from Stabroek Market, across to South Drain in Suriname

There is no bridge over the Corentyne, so the road east stops at Moleson Creek. The MV Canawaima normally sails once a day, leaving the Suriname side about 10:00 with foot passengers checking in an hour or more early; people arrive two hours early and drivers queue from the previous day, because there is regularly not room for all the cars. Bring cash in US or Suriname dollars, because the terminal takes nothing else and the nearest ATM is forty minutes away at Nieuw Nickerie. The service is fragile: Suriname's maritime authority suspended it for six days from 22 August 2026 over fire-safety, evacuation and radar shortcomings and hydraulic leaks, and as of 20 September 2026 it had only a provisional licence to 28 September, with the barge MB Sandaka held as the contingency vessel. When the ferry stopped, Guyana formally reopened the small-boat backtrack from Springlands to Nickerie, with immigration processing at the Moleson Creek terminal on departure and at New Nickerie on arrival.

When: Normally one sailing a day, occasionally two or three when freight demand justifies it; subject to suspension
Takes: about 30 minutes on the water, plus border formalities on both sides
Fare 2025: US$20 or SRD800 one way, US$30 return; minibus Paramaribo to South Drain about US$15 and Moleson Creek to Georgetown about US$10

SeasonYear-round when running. BookingBuy at the terminal; an online booking system has been announced. Check whether the ferry is sailing before you commit to the trip, and allow for the Berbice bridge opening on the way. Run byCanawaima Ferry Service Inc, a Guyana and Suriname joint venture.

service status

Wet seasons, and the state of the road south

The coast around Georgetown, and the Linden to Lethem corridor

Guyana has two seasons and they run on different calendars on the coast and in the interior, which catches people out. On the coast the wet months are May to mid-July and mid-November to mid-January; inland it is mid-May to August. The coastal wet floods Georgetown's streets and slows every bus; the interior wet is the one that decides whether the road south is usable. The Linden to Lethem trail is being turned into an all-weather road in phases: the Brazilian contractor had paved about 100 km of the Linden to Mabura Hill section by March 2026 with the project 83 per cent complete, a 30 km Mabura Hill to Kurupukari contract was signed in September 2026, and the later phases were still being negotiated. South of the paved section it is still trail, and in the wet a run that takes 12 to 15 hours dry has been reported at 20 to 25 hours, with minibuses needing to be towed out.

When: Seasonal
Takes: n/a
Fare: n/a

SeasonCoast wet May to mid-July and mid-November to mid-January; interior wet mid-May to August. BookingNone. Ask at the bus office about trail conditions before buying a Lethem ticket in the wet. Run byMinistry of Public Works and the Guyana Hydrometeorological Service.

3 ways

By water

ferry

Parika to Supenaam and the Essequibo island ferries

Parika stelling, about 45 minutes west of Georgetown on the number 32 minibus, across the Essequibo to Supenaam, with separate services to Leguan, Wakenaam and Bartica

Take a 32 from Stabroek to Parika, walk to the government stelling and join the queue. The Transport and Harbours Department runs the roll-on roll-off ferries; the Supenaam run is the busiest waterway route in the country. A new Greece-built vessel, the MV Konawaruk 1899, arrived in December 2025 and took over the route, though it had teething problems on entry into service. There is an online Ferry Pass for booking, brought in to cut the queues at the stelling. Rehabilitation work at Parika has put a 20-tonne gross weight cap on vehicles using the linkspan, in force since July 2026, so a heavy truck must wait for the restriction to lift. A slower Parika to Bartica ferry also runs a few mornings a week and is a fraction of the speedboat fare.

When: Several sailings a day to Supenaam; the Bartica ferry runs on set mornings only
Takes: about 1 hour to Supenaam; about 5 hours Parika to Bartica by ferry
Fare: Cheap and government-set. Wikivoyage puts the Parika to Bartica ferry at about US$3, undated; current Supenaam fares are not published on a reachable page

SeasonYear-round. BookingOnline Ferry Pass, or turn up at the stelling. Vehicles over 20 tonnes are refused at Parika while the stelling is being rehabilitated. Run byTransport and Harbours Department, Ministry of Public Works.

speedboat

Essequibo speedboats from Parika

Parika stelling to Bartica up the Essequibo, and across to Supenaam

The speedboats leave from the stelling beside the ferry berth and go when the benches fill, typically a covered open boat with life jackets handed out as you board. Bartica is about an hour, against five on the ferry. Fares are supposed to be set: the Maritime Administration Department publishes a structure for the Parika routes, the government cut fuel taxes specifically to hold fares down, and both the Public Works Minister and the Region Two administration have gone after operators charging above it. Ask other passengers what the fare is before you pay, and do not accept a special, which is a chartered boat, without settling the price first.

When: Through the day, leaving when full
Takes: about 1 hour Parika to Bartica
Fare: Wikivoyage quotes G$2,500 or about US$12 Parika to Bartica, undated. MARAD sets an official structure and overcharging above it has been a running complaint

SeasonYear-round. BookingNone; turn up at the stelling. Run byspeedboat associations at Parika, Supenaam and Bartica, licensed through MARAD.

cable ferry

Kurupukari pontoon on the Essequibo

The Linden to Lethem trail crosses the Essequibo River at Kurupukari, at the northern edge of the Iwokrama forest

There is no bridge. Every vehicle going to or from Lethem lines up on the bank and is taken across the Essequibo on a pontoon, which is why arrival times on this road are quoted so loosely – the queue is part of the journey, and the pontoon does not run through the night. A bridge has been promised repeatedly, most recently by the Public Works Minister in December 2025, who said it would be built inside the current five-year term and that the crossing was still under active consideration while investors were sought. Until it exists, plan for the pontoon.

When: Daylight hours, crossing as vehicles accumulate
Takes: the crossing is short; the wait is not
Fare: A crossing charge applies to vehicles but no current tariff is published on a reachable page

SeasonYear-round; high water and trail closures upstream and downstream affect it. BookingNone, join the line. Run byMinistry of Public Works.

Not confirmed

What we could not find out

9 things the researcher looked for and did not find, in their own words, with where to ask instead. None of this goes into the planner; it stays here until someone confirms it.

01
The brief asked about the Demerara Harbour Bridge retraction schedule for ships. There is no longer one. The new four-lane Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge was commissioned on 5 October 2025 and ships pass under it; the old floating bridge has been left permanently retracted and its spans are being relocated, with Timehri to Sand Hills named as the destination for the retractor and acceptor spans.
02
The brief asked whether the new Demerara bridge has opened. It has, and it is free: the Demerara, Berbice and Linden bridge tolls were scrapped from 1 August 2025. The Berbice Bridge Company's own website still displays its pre-2025 toll table (Motor Car/Bus G$2,200, articulated truck G$32,000), which appears to be stale rather than a live tariff. Worth confirming whether any commercial category still pays.
03
The brief treated the Suriname crossing at Moleson Creek as a working ferry. As of 20 September 2026 the MV Canawaima was running on a provisional licence expiring 28 September 2026 after a six-day suspension in August, and Guyana had formally opened the Springlands to Nickerie small-boat backtrack as the fallback, with immigration processing at Moleson Creek. Anyone planning this crossing needs to check it is sailing on the day.
04
Current Georgetown minibus and route-taxi fares could not be confirmed from any reachable publisher or authority. The figures in the file come from Wikivoyage and are undated; the government has repeatedly refused to approve fare increases and police have threatened arrests over illegal hikes, so what is charged and what is authorised may differ. Ask at the park.
05
Transport and Harbours Department ferry fares for Parika to Supenaam are not published on any page that responded. The T&HD issues notices through the Ministry of Public Works rather than a timetable site, and there is an online Ferry Pass booking system whose public URL could not be found.
06
No current Trans Guyana Airways or Air Services Limited timetable or fare could be retrieved: transguyana.net returns 403 to every request and aslguyana.com did not resolve. The Lethem and Kaieteur prices in this file are Wikivoyage's and undated. Roraima Airways' site loads but serves almost nothing.
07
The Kurupukari pontoon crossing charge and operating hours are not published anywhere reachable.
08
Of the Guyanese publishers tried, kaieteurnewsonline.com, demerarawaves.com and inewsguyana.com all serve a working WordPress search API at /wp-json/wp/v2/search. stabroeknews.com returns 403 to every path including the API, guyanachronicle.com answers /wp-json with a 307 redirect loop, and newsroom.gy returns 403.
09
The Berbice Bridge Company publishes its daily opening times as a rolling month at berbicebridge.com, rendered into the home page rather than served as data. It is the only live retraction schedule found for any Guyanese bridge and is worth polling.

In the planner

What the planner can route today

The options above live on the place page, not in the departure board: a boat that comes when you phone has no time to show. What the board can do for Georgetown is this.

Y: Scheduled flightsGeorgetown (GEO), 36 km
N: Trains and coachesno timetable feed known for this country
Y: FerriesGeorgetown Ferry Terminal, 2 km; sailings estimated
Y: Driving and taxiOpenStreetMap roads; cab fare from the country band
N: Bike and scooter shareno share feed known
N: Cruisesno open itinerary source anywhere

Y routable now · F found, not yet implemented · N no source known. Nearest place with more: Paramaribo, 346 km.