A small bus station, a big local memory.
The bus station located in Quartier d’Orléans, part of the Les Promenades du Quartier d’Orléans development, now has an official name: Leblanc André Nestor. The decision was approved by the Executive Council of the Collectivité de Saint-Martin on October 1, 2026.
Opened in 2023, the facility was designed as a small transport hub serving the area. It provides four parking spaces for buses at the same time, together with a nearby passenger shelter. Not exactly a giant international terminal, but on Saint-Martin, every place where people can actually catch a bus without standing in the middle of traffic deserves a little respect.
So why Leblanc André Nestor?
Because before the GPS, apps and all the other technological miracles humans invented to tell us where we are going, there were the drivers who simply knew the roads, the people and the neighborhoods.
Born in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, on November 30, 1939, André Nestor Leblanc was originally from Quartier d’Orléans. He held passenger transport licence No. 033, issued by Albert Fleming, and worked as a public transport operator from 1988 to 2016. During those years, he served the Marigot–Orléans route and also operated the cross-border service towards Philipsburg.
According to the Collectivité, the choice was made in consultation with representatives of the local passenger transport sector and the members of Neighborhood Council No. 1. The idea was to recognize someone whose regular presence, dedication and sense of responsibility had made him a familiar figure in the transport life of Quartier d’Orléans.
A sign bearing his name is expected to be installed at the station.
And there is a little Saint-Martin logic behind all this: Marigot already has its own named bus station, Gumbs Antoine Julien. Quartier d’Orléans now has Leblanc André Nestor.
Two names. Two generations of local transport history. And two reminders that Saint-Martin was not built only by politicians, administrators and people holding microphones at ceremonies.
Sometimes, it was built by the people behind the wheel.
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