We are going to Jersey in Sept. What is the public transport on the island like? Would it be better to hire a car to get around to historic sites and beaches?

ttt

This is the website for Jersey's buses:
www.mybus.je
There are "island explorer" routes linking the island's tourist attractions.
Journeys are fairly short and fares are £1 or £1.50, with various passes if you're using the buses a lot.

Driving is pretty straight forward and car hire not too expensive on the island. There are no fast roads and a polite attitude to other drivers - e.g junctions where you must go in turn. We preferred the flexibility of car hire to visit at our own pace.

We travel to Jersey quite often to visit relatives. We've hired a car approx 50% of the time and used the local buses plus walking the other 50% of trips.

A hire car is certainly a very asset on the island, as it's the fastest and most flexible way to get around. The main problem is the scandalous hidden charges. All of the hire car companies add additional taxes not included in the advertised rates. Another scam is that you must pre-pay for a minimum 1/2 tank of fuel. Although fuel is cheaper on Jersey than the UK mainland, there's no way you are going to use 1/2 tank in a few days tootling around the island. There are no refunds for unused petrol, they just re-sell it to the next punter!

The local buses are pretty good, certainly very cheap and the routes cover just about anywhere you might want to go to, but many of the routes are slow, meandering journeys round narrow country lanes. It can get a bit tedious spending a hour in a bus for a journey that would take 15 minutes in a hire care. Having said that, its sometimes useful to take the bus to one location and walk to another pick-up point without having to retrace your steps, as you would with a car.