In August, a new bus company, the Reolian Transport Company is going to be added to our tiny city to serve Macao people and tourists along with the other two bus companies, Transportes Urbanos de Macau S.A.R.L. (Transmac) and Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau (TCM).

As the third public transport company in Macao, Reolian will start operating on August 8, 2011 running most of the bus routes in Macao. Investing in 245 buses with 26 bus routes going around Macao and Coloane Island, Reolian will account for 43% of the bus routes network.

Reolian Transport Company is a joint venture of HN Group Limited and Veolia Transport in France-Paris Metro.

Residents worried about more traffic jams

Marco Vai, a resident of the densely populated "Three Lamps" neighborhood, expressed his concern during an open-air forum, saying that the government's recently announced increase in the frequency of public bus routes could ultimately produce more traffic congestions.

Vai said that the city's narrow streets would not be able to cope with a "double-increase" in public transport while the number of private cars was also set to grow further.

According to Vai, local residents have a "high" tendency to purchase cars but the government "has not taken any effective measure" to limit the ever increasing number of private vehicles clogging the city streets.

Another resident attending the forum, Chan Peng Hong, also raised doubts on whether the announced bus frequency increase would be "enough" to discourage locals to use their motorbikes and private cars.

According to the findings of a survey on the demand for community services in Taipa and Coloane, the islands' residents are most concerned about the lack of parking space and public transport. The survey was carried out by the Taipa service centre of the Macau Federation of Labour Union (FAOM) between August and October last year. A total of 619 respondents completed the questionnaire.

According to the findings, 52.6 percent of the respondents said that the community service which needed most urgent improvement was the problem of finding a parking space, while difficulty in taking bus or taxi came as the second most pressing issue, representing 49.6 percent of the respondents.

Some 39.9 percent of the respondents said that "a shortage of public car parks" was the third most urgent community service issue that needed to be solved.

Seniors expect bus-stop at 'remote' social housing estate

Monica Leong Chan, a 77-year-old granny living on her own at a Fai Chi Kei social housing estate, has to spend at least 30 minutes walking to the nearest wet market and back home every day. Having twisted her ankle recently and feeling that she can't walk as well as before, Chan's dearest Lunar New Year wish is to see a bus-stop being set up near her flat.

"It takes me about 15 minutes to walk to the bus-stop where most buses stop at," Chan was quoted by The Macau Post Daily as saying. "I tripped over recently and my legs are not as good as before. Walking to the Patane Municipal Market for me is very far away."

Another senior citizen aged almost 80 also has to cope with the same situation. "It's very tiring to walk to the wet market. When I still lived in the old social housing estate [which has been demolished], everything was so near," Lei said.

Transmac and TCM

Transmac has been operating public transit buses in Macao since 1988. In mainland China, Transmac was known as Xinfuli, and it is operating in Xinhui and Wuhu now. Xinfuli operated in Guangzhou and Foshan as well until 2008 when its service was purchased by others. Fok Lei Autocarro S.A., founded in 1948, was the processor of Transmac, which began service in 1988. Being the biggest franchised bus company in Macao, it first introduced the Macao Pass on March 20, 1999.

TCM is another bus operator in Macao. The company began as a ferry operator in the 1950s, but did not enter bus operations until 1974 when a bridge connecting the Macao peninsula with Taipa was finished. TCM was disqualified from an open auction to operate public bus services in 2009. The company was said to be "four minutes late" to submit its tender proposal to meet the deadline of the submission. TCM contested the decision by filing a law suit. In August 2010, the government decided to give another route to TCM which in turn withdrew its appeal to the superior court.

The Chinese name for "Reolian" stands for "Maintain", "Macao", "Lotus" and "Transport". The company's logo is a green color lotus which symbolizes the concept of environmental protection and the company's objective is to develop a better Macao.