Macau will expand its scheme of bringing concessionaire shuttle buses into local communities, increasing the number of routes to 14, drop-off points to 10 and extending the operation period to 3 January next year.
The government pointed out that the second phase of the “Leisure Bus Community Exploration Programme” will be implemented this Friday 17 July. This phase will add four new direct community routes from the Ruins of St. Paul’s and Rua do Cunha. It will also add a drop-off point in the Fai Chi Kei area, building a community tourism network consisting of 14 routes, 10 community drop-off points and two core tourist spots.
The operation period has been extended to 3 January next year. The buses will operate on weekends, as well as during the National Day, Christmas and New Year holidays, with additional Friday shifts scheduled during the summer vacation.
The daily operating hours are from noon to evening, running approximately every 60 minutes with six shifts per route daily. However, the government noted that the four newly added routes will be operated by the tourism industry, while the other 10 routes will be operated by the concessionaires.
The Macao SAR Government announced that it is cooperating with the six concessionaires to launch a new scheme that introduces shuttle buses into parts of the Macau Peninsula community on weekends, aiming to make it more convenient for tourists to visit the local communities.
The “Leisure Bus Community Exploration Programme” initiative was first launched in April, aiming to make it more convenient for tourists to visit the local communities.
The initial scheme was divided into three themes, featuring a total of six routes and nine community drop-off points.
Although the introduced shuttle buses are operated by concessionaires, they uniformly use smaller, light-duty buses. Their exterior must not bear any concessionaire branding and must be unified in white.
The government indicated that the trial operation of the first phase ran from 25 April to 15 July, serving a cumulative total of nearly 20,000 passenger trips.
