Ursula and Martina (with the new initiative “Cidadania Ativa”) met with two Horarios do Funchal admin members, to talk about problems and new ideas, on July 4
The company
Horarios is a public share company, the Government holds the shares. Horarios in numbers: http://www.horariosdofunchal.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=213 In 2012, Horarios had 18 Mio passengers and 600 employees
Bus companies on Madeira Island
SAM (fast); Rodoeste (West), Horarios, EACL (Canico)., S. Gonçalo. The city also has many rental cars and TukTuks, and other small vehicles that slow down traffic, on increasingly bottled-up streets.
Bus prices
Horarios does not set the ticket prices (1.95€ for a single trip, better would be 2€). The prices are set by the Government.
Personnel
Horarios has enough buses: 150 buses; of these, 120 are always in service. 30 are in maintenance and for emergencies. But the problem is that the company cannot find additional bus drivers.
Traffic is getting worse
Many families now have more than one car, and the cars are on the road or use up all parking space.
IF gasoline were much more expensive or IF the City Hall decided to curb the private traffic as in other cities (road closures (par/impar traffic days) IF bus travel were free, the car users might switch to bus services.
Overloaded buses
Due to the increase of tourists (and tourist groups) who use the bus systems more, more bus trips are needed. Often buses are full on the third bus stop, and pass the waiting crows.
Horarios is aware of the increase; in the Spring of 2023, ticket sales onboard the buses to tourists eclipsed the revenue created by bus passes.
Polling
The polling experts from TIS (https://www.tis.pt/) made an inquiry (costly for Horarios) with passengers a few months ago but the results have not yet been delivered to Horarios.
Horarios knows from ticket sales in the buses that the passenger numbers have increased with the increase of tourism after Covid.
Horarios tried to get a better grip on passenger needs and residents in general, by distributing 80.000 cards to households for their own inquiry. Even with the offer of gifts and premiums, people did not respond. They got only 50 answers at the time.
Coming next week: Tourists, Kiosks, the new ticketing system other new information systems, and thoughts about blocked streets due to sports events.
