It was nine o'clock in the morning. Chao was driving his car around the northern part in Macao. He has been looking for a parking space for more than 15 minutes; he would be late for work again.

Macao is a crowded city. According to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), the total land area of Macao is 29.5 Km2 in 2009. In December of 2010, the number of licensed vehicles is 90,214 and that of motorcycle is 106,420. The population of Macao in late 2010 is 549,500. Yet, according to the statistics, in June of 2007, there were just 54,000 legal parking spaces. The situation has not been improved by 2011. Macao is still lacking parking space. The northern part is worse than most of the places in Macao for parking spaces. It is the only place that motorcycle parking payment has been set.

"Every day it takes me around 15-20 minutes to find a parking space, it is difficult for me to go to work by bus," said Chao, who lives near the Red Market and works in Areia Preta. "I can just take bus number six to my working place. But normally it takes me more than 30 minutes, sometimes even longer if I miss the bus."

"I do not want to buy a parking space in the northern part!" said Chao. "It is too expensive, around MOP400, 000 for a parking space and it costs MOP1700 per month if I want to rent a parking space."

According to the statistics, there are 201,000 residents in the Northern Area, accounting for 40% of the total population. From the information provided by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), Macao has the highest density of population in the world, and in 2006, the population density reached 17,556 people per square kilometer. Also, in Macao, Santo Ant≤nio is the district with the highest density of population where there are more than 100,000 people per kilometer.

The public transportation problem in the northern part is the most serious because of high density. "Normally it takes me more than one hour to go to school, sometimes even more if the bus is too crowded to get on," said Lam, a Form three student in Pui Va high school, Taipa.

One of the reasons that makes the northern part so crowded is that it is the most inhabited area for non-local workers. Non-local workers accounted for 23% of the whole work force in Macao and constituted 24% of the employed population according to a 2006 statistical report. One out of four workers in Macao is an imported laborer. In 2006, the number of non-local workers as well as new immigrants reached 103,871. Because the northern part offers the lowest rent apartments, many foreign workers choose to live there and it is very near the border gate. It is convenient for non-local workers, who mainly came from China to go back to the mainland and buy necessities for daily use as it is much cheaper there than in Macao.

In solving this problem, The Macao SAR Government announced in 2007 the plans for the new public transportation system - the Macao Light Rail Transit System (LRT). According to the plan, the total length of the first phase is 20km, with 23 stations, at a cost of MOP4.2 billion. The construction of the LRT system is believed to meet the increasing demand for public transportation services and improve the sustainable development in Macao. On the other hand, a new public bus corporation - Reolian Public Transport Company Ltd (Sociedade de Transportes P·blicos Reolian) is going to begin its service on August 1, 2011 as well. There will be 24 more routes served by the new bus company. With these projects, the Macao Government plans to encourage citizens to use more public transportation instead of driving personally.