The twenty-four buses which formerly stopped at the Border Gate bus terminal have been diverted to ten different bus stops near the Border Gate. The route diversions follow the massive damage to the bus terminal caused by the passage of Typhoon Hato.
According to a media report by Macao Daily, the public has questioned why the transport authority did not instruct its buses to stop in the parking area reserved for tourism buses.
Cheang Cheong Hin, director of the transportation division of the transport management department of the Transport Bureau (DSAT), explained that based on a traffic flow analysis, there were about three thousand buses per day at the Border Gate terminal. Eighteen out of the 24 bus routes must pass through the Pérola Oriental roundabout – one of the ten busiest spots in the Macau Peninsula – to reach the tourist bus parking area.
The parking spaces in the tourist bus parking areas are poorly designed, said Cheang, which would unduly lengthen the time required for buses to park and therefore would have a significant impact on the bus operations.
Some bus users say that the new arragment close to the Border Gate is confusing.
