Last updated on 4th May 2024
With increased tourism comes increased chaos, especially when travelling by pubic transport. Last week, our roving reporter Ursula took to the streets to understand the frustration felt by both residents and tourists when using Funchal’s busy bus routes.
In her report, Ursula wrote:
The residents in Funchal’s Hotel area at the Lido keenly feel the high influx of tourists. Nowadays, it may take longer for them to get to work due to the volume of tourists using the buses, while a lack of information creates delays as tourists pose different questions to the driver, and buy individual tickets rather than use the top-up Giro card which causes further delays.
To ease the situation, a citizen’s group, “Cidadania Ativa”(Active Citizenship) has a volunteer standing at the bus stop in the mornings to answer tourists’ questions and speed up their entry onto the buses. These can be questions about the bus, drop-off points, tickets, how to read the timetables, and how to calculate how long the bus may take to arrive from its start point.
After having a busy morning, Ursula said:
“It’s fun and nice to meet tourists, and help them have a better start to their day.”
A much better solution would be for the Horarios do Funchal to place a ticket/information kiosk in the Lido area. It is an idea they are already thinking about but they will need permission from the Funchal City Council (CMF) before they can go ahead with the project.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
