New calls for better bus route arrangements

The unreasonable arrangement of bus routes in Macau is a problem of utmost importance and should be handled as a priority, a new traffic concern group has said, according to several news reports.

Referred to as the Macau Public Transport Concern Group, the group has been formed by the Association of Synergies of Macau and a group of local residents concerned with the matter for a long period of time. The group of residents was represented by Dickson Lau at a recent press briefing.

At the briefing, the group cited data to reveal that the city has 93 bus routes, serving a daily average of passengers ranging from 587,000 to 762,700. It also pointed out that some bus routes, such as Nos 21A and 26, have as many as 75 stops.

It also listed the problems with local public bus services, including circuitous and overlapping routes, crowding at bus stops and packed bus carriages.

Explaining its views on the causes of these problems, the group blamed tourists being unfamiliar with payment methods, slow boarding, bus stops serving too many routes, and the environment of the neighborhood among other reasons.

The group also referred to long queues of buses at a variety of districts over the past Lunar New Year to prove the problems were more severe during peak seasons or longer holidays.

In response to the existing problems, the group also suggested local bus routes be separated into five categories and bus stops into three tiers.

The five categories would consist of express bus lines, main lines, essential lines, auxiliary lines and branch lines. As such, buses will operate at higher efficiency.

As for the three tiers, bus stops could be separated into main hubs or transit stations, bay bus stops and traffic lane bus stops.

The group also recommended some buses skip certain stops during hours or days with high demand, or that they should be diverted to non-core bus stops or stops that are further from older neighborhoods, such as the Taipa Village.