Buses in Maastricht are a great way to get around the city if you’re not a biker or when it’s raining and you can’t be bothered to bike. The bus service in Maastricht is provided by Arriva Transport and you can catch the bus to the different neighbourhoods of the city as well as places like Aachen, Maastricht-Aachen airport and Valkenburg.
You can look at the Arriva journey planner or 9292.nl to find the timetable for the bus you need. All bus lines in Maastricht can be found here. The buses work with the OV-chip card, the public transport card for the whole of the Netherlands. If you don’t have one yet, you can apply for one here. You can also pay for your journey with a bank card by tapping in and out when entering and leaving the bus.
If you’re planning on using a certain bus journey with Arriva a lot, then you could save money with one of the Arriva subscriptions. You can also check out the Student Mobility Card, Limburg Arriva deal.
Night buses
There are night buses on some routes on Friday and Saturday night. These routes include lines 4, 5 and 6. All of these run until around 12.30 am.
International Buses
As well as buses around the city, you can catch buses to international destinations. If you’re at the Maastricht station, the bus station is located in front of the station. Buses from Arriva and de Lijn (Belgian bus company) stop here.
Flixbus
It is possible to catch a bus from Maastricht to many other cities in Europe. This might take longer than taking the train but is usually cheaper, and there are plug sockets and wifi on the buses. The main company that is popular with students is Flixbus. There is also an option available to travellers that would like to bring their bikes with them, as many of the Flixbuses have a bike carrier on the back.
The Flixbus bus stop is at the train station, on Meerssenerweg. You can cross the train tracks through the station to get to the bus station. From the train station, walk through the bridge, go down the stairs and walk past the bike racks and the carpark. Keep walking until you reach the bus shelters, which will have signs displaying information about the international buses arriving soon. All international buses that are not part of Arriva will stop here.
Currently, there are direct lines to Brussels, Amsterdam, many cities in Germany and even Prague and Italy. If you’re willing to have a connection in your journey, then there is even the option of getting to Rome or Madrid, though it might take you 25 hours to get there.
Also, make sure you arrive at the bus stop on time! Your ticket will tell you to get there 15 minutes earlier than the departure time. If the bus arrives early, it can leave early too.
