Transport | New Era tops citizens’ complaints

Public bus operator New Era is at the top of the list of citizens’ complaints over Macau’s public bus system, according to data provided by the Transport Bureau (DSAT) to Radio Macau.
Between July 2014 and June this year, DSAT received a total of 2,218 complaints, 47 percent of which were linked to services provided by New Era – the company that took over Reolian’s operations last year.
In total, there were 1,043 complaints about New Era’s services, 663 complaints about Transmac (30 percent) and 512 regarding operations run by TCM.
Reasons listed for filing the complaints included delays, refusal to take passengers, failing to stop at signaled bus stops and bad attitudes of drivers.
DSAT reiterated that it reviews every complaint it receives, urging bus companies to provide clarification on the issues and rectify problematic situations. Furthermore, DSAT made assurances that it takes citizens’ opinions into account when deciding on improvements to the public bus network and regularly monitors the bus operators’ activities regarding stops and itineraries, as well as route frequency.
New Era took over operations from Reolian in July last year, after Reolian filed for bankruptcy in 2013. The Macau government temporarily took over its operations until it granted New Era permission to operate Reolian’s routes. New Era’s major shareholder is TCM, one of the city’s three bus operators.