A shuttle bus service will ferry teams from the Suva Flea Market to HFC Bank Stadium during the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s, organisers announced on Wednesday. The service, operated by Shore Buses, will begin next Thursday — the opening day of the Marist 7s — and run through to the tournament’s final day on Saturday, with departures scheduled every 40 minutes in both directions. Access to the buses will be restricted to holders of accreditation passes issued to participants.
Marist Rugby Club president Lawrence Tikaram told media the arrangement was made possible with support from the Suva City Council and thanked Shore Buses director Aman Singh for enabling the move. Tikaram said the shuttle is intended to ensure teams are transported safely and to ease traffic and parking pressures around the HFC Bank Stadium during the three-day event.
Tikaram also acknowledged the role played by the Suva City Council’s acting chief executive officer and special administrators chairperson Tevita Boseiwaqa, saying the council had “been part of this journey” and would make further announcements this week. The council will also allocate space for an additional tree-planting initiative along the Suva Foreshore in August, he said.
The Marist 7s will kick off a week of pre-tournament activity with a tree-planting exercise next Wednesday at the Damodar Arts Centre in Pacific Harbour. Captains of the 128 participating teams have been invited to take part in that first planting, which organisers say is part of a broader environmental and community outreach effort tied to the event.
Organisers confirmed the tournament field comprises 128 teams: 72 men’s teams, 12 women’s teams, 32 teams in the 18-to-under-21 grade, and 12 youth teams split evenly between boys and girls. The Marist 7s will serve as the final stop on the 2025/26 Fiji Bitter 7s series, which began in Levuka with the Yalovata 7s in November last year.
The shuttle arrangement, the council partnership and the parallel tree-planting programme reflect organisers’ attempts to combine logistics planning with community engagement as the series concludes in Suva. Teams and officials have been advised to use their accreditation passes when boarding the Shore Buses shuttles during the tournament days.
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