The daily average number of Light Rail Transit (LRT) passengers last month remained unchanged at 4,750 from the previous month of February.
The government-owned LRT operator, Macau Light Rapid Transit Corporation Limited (MLM), announced last month’s average daily number of LRT passengers on its website earlier this month.
The 4,750 LRT passengers per day on average recorded last month and February came after an average of 3,550 LRT passengers daily was recorded in January.
Currently, the LRT only operates on the 9.3-kilometre-long Taipa section which includes Cotai. The Taipa-Cotai section, which started operating on December 10, 2019, has 11 stations.
The LRT system recorded an average of 33,000 and 16,000 passengers daily in December 2019 and January 2020 respectively, when LRT rides were free.
Since February 2020, LRT passengers have had to pay for their rides.
Macau confirmed its first novel coronavirus case on January 22, 2020.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of LRT passengers fell drastically.
According to the MLM website, except in January 2020 when an average of 16,000 passengers daily was recorded, the LRT recorded an average daily number of passengers of just 1,691 during the other 11 months of 2020.
The LRT had an average of 1,989 passengers daily in 2021, while the figure dropped to 1,850 last year.
With the post-COVID-19 recovery of Macau’s tourism sector, the daily average number of LRT passengers has gradually been recovering since January.
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário acknowledged last month that for some time, he did not expect the daily average number of LRT passengers to return to the around 30,000 when the LRT system came into service in December 2019, despite the ongoing recovery of Macau’s tourism sector.
2/3 of LRT Seac Pai Van project completed
Meanwhile, the construction structure of the elevated track of the LRT Seac Pai Van section has all been completed, the Public Works Bureau (DSOP) has announced.
The 1.6-kilometre-long Seac Pai Van section will connect the LRT Taipa section near the future Cotai hospital complex and the sprawling Seac Pai Van public housing estate in Coloane. According to the DSOP website, the Seac Pai Van LRT project, which got off the ground in September 2021, is now scheduled to be completed in February next year.
A DSOP statement late last month noted that after the completion of the construction structure of the whole Seac Pai Van section at that time, the constructors will now carry out the installation of parapets, as well as the setting-up of the rail operating system and rolling stock.
The statement said that the completion of the construction structure is “conducive to the achievement” of the government’s objective of being able to open the Seac Pai Van section next year.
The statement also said that around 67 percent of the LRT Seac Pai Van section project had been completed.
The LRT Seac Pai Van section project is being carried out by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) with a price tag of 938 million patacas.
This handout photo released by the Public Works Bureau late last month shows the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Seac Pai Van section at that time.
