Local think tank Macau Synergy Association held a press conference yesterday at its office regarding circuity and the overlapping of bus routes, as well as traffic jams caused by too many bus routes stopping at the same bus stops at the same time, crowded buses on some routes and insufficient waiting space, urging the government to streamline the routes by categorising them into five types, such as express routes, trunk routes and short routes, while also setting up a three-tiered busing system such as to expand Chun Su Mei Terminal to serve as a pilot transport hub in Taipa.
The press conference hosted by the group’s vice president Ron Lam U Tou and chairman Johnson Ian Heng Ut as well as transport expert Dickson Lau (劉冠傑) at their office in a residential building on Rua do Matapau noted that Macau boasts, according to the latest statistic by the Transport Bureau (DSAT), 93 bus routes, with an average daily patronage of about 587,000 and a peak of 762,700.
According to Ian, the proposed system consisting of five different kinds of bus routes would comprise “express routes” mainly stopping at hubs or interchanges and high patronage terminals; “trunk routes” mainly stopping at large-scale hubs or interchanges and stops with more space for buses for passengers to get on and off; “auxiliary routes” to be used as a support for “trunk routes” to extend the city’s bus network to off-road routes; “short routes” to be added at times of high patronage so that the largest number of passengers could be served with the fewest number of buses; and “spur lines” which would mainly provide short-haul feeder services to the city’s old quarters, neighbourhoods and “remote” districts.
Ian, on behalf of the Macau Public Transport Concern Group, also urged the government to take “Old Taipa”, one of Macau’s major tourist attractions, as a pilot point for the classification of bus routes, by expanding Chun Su Mei Terminal into a transport hub with a combination of bus and taxi ranks as well as a pick-up and drop-off area for tourist coaches. The group also called on the government to widen pavement and bus stops on Avenida Olímpica and to build a footbridge to connect the Flower City area to the future transport hub at Chun Su Mei.
Directly-elected lawmaker Lam pointed out that the number of bus routes has doubled to more than 90 compared to the number before Macau’s return to the motherland in 1999, adding that in recent years, the government has been increasing the number of bus routes, but as a result, the routes have become “more and more circuitous and complicated”.
Macau Public Transport Concern Group representatives, including think tank Macau Synergy Association Vice President-cum-lawmaker Ron Lam U Tou (left) and Chairman Johnson Ian Heng Ut (right), as well as transport expert Dickson Lau (劉冠傑), pose during yesterday’s press conference at the association’s office on Rua do Matapau. – Photo: Yuki Lei
