Bus ride woes, 126 denied boarding
Yesterday, at least 126 people were denied boarding public buses, the representative of the Transport Bureau (DSAT), Chang Cheong Hin, said at the press briefing from the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center.
The reason behind the refusal was primarily a failure to provide the special permit card issued to those that need to perform work duties during this week. In some cases, this was because the permits had not reached the users on time.
Still, Chang noted that 63,117 such cards were issued; the two public bus operators noted that between 5:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday 9,300 carried such cards.
The same official noted, regarding the cases of rejection of passengers: “Today [yesterday] is [was] the first day of enforcement of these new rules and so there are people that were not aware, this is normal.” Chang added, “We are in close contact with bus companies to do monitoring of the situation. They also already trained the drivers on how to proceed in this type of situation. If the drivers find irregular cases [of people wanting to board the buses without the needed documents] they can request support from the special workers that have been deployed to some of the major bus stops. If this happens at a stop that does not have these workers, the drivers can also try to help and clarify with the passengers why they cannot enter the bus.”
The 9,300 bus commuters, according to statistics from DSAT, is a reduction of about 90% when compared with the same day and period last week.
“We can see there is an obvious effect of this policy and that it could effectively reduce the mobility of the people,” Chang remarked in support of the measure.
Nonetheless there were many complaints from workers who saw their commutes to work being canceled because they lacked the necessary permits. In some reported cases, domestic workers have been forced out of the buses due to the lack of a valid work permit (Blue Card).
Questioned on the topic, the representative of the Public Security Police Force (PSP), Lei Tak Fai, said if these workers do not possess yet their cards and they hold only the receipt, they can request a “temporary card” from the Macao Immigration Services which can temporarily replace their blue cards.
Those who require a temporary card may contact the Services using the hotline 2872 5488.
Special permits selling online
According to a media inquiry at the press briefing, there are reports of people attempting to sell special permit cards online.
In response to this information, Lei noted that they will enforce inspection over such matters and if people are engaging in this illegal activity, they will bear the penal responsibility.
On the same topic, Chang noted that only people holding original cards will be allowed on the buses and drivers have been instructed to refuse entry to all those presenting copies or photographs of cards.
He also noted that no valid cards have blank areas; if this happens, those cards are not considered valid.
