After the government announced on Monday that Light Rapid Transit (LRT) rides will be free for all passengers on Friday, the government announced yesterday that services between Barra Station and Stadium Station on the LRT Taipa Line will be suspended for three days between today and Friday, while services between Pai Kok Station and Taipa Ferry Terminal Station on the line will remain operational over the three days but with reduced train frequencies.
According to yesterday’s announcements, LRT services on the other two lines on the system, Seac Pai Van Line and Hengqin Line, will remain unchanged.
Yesterday’s announcements did not mention the reason for the three-day partially suspended services on the Taipa Line.
Free LRT & public bus rides on Dec 20
The government announced on Monday that in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) on Friday, passengers will not have to pay for taking the city’s public buses and LRT train rides that day.
The free rides for the LRT and public buses on Friday were announced in two executive orders respectively published in the Official Gazette (BO) on Monday, signed by outgoing Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng.
Currently, trains depart every 5 to 10 ½ minutes on the Taipa Line, while trains depart every six minutes on the Seac Pai Van Line and the Hengqin Line.
However, a joint statement by the LRT operator and the Transport Bureau (DSAT) yesterday announced that LRT services between Barra Station and Stadium Station on the Taipa Line will be suspended between today and Friday, while the LRT will run “limited services” on the line between its Pai Kok Station and Taipa Ferry Terminal Station during the three days, at a frequency of about 10 minutes.
Yesterday’s statement said that LRT services on the Seac Pai Van Line and the Hengqin Line will remain unchanged throughout the three days, at a frequency of six minutes.
Yesterday’s statement also said that with the temporary measures to be implemented over the three days, the Transport Bureau has told the city’s two public bus operators to increase bus frequencies of routes serving the areas around the affected LRT stations. The statement advised passengers to “choose between public buses or the LRT when out and about based on their own needs”.
This photo taken in August this year shows a Light Rapid Transit (LRT) train leaving Ocean Station in Taipa en route to the peninsula’s Barra Station. – Photo: Tony Wong
