Milton Teixeira, president of the Parish Council of Caniço, considers that the change from public transport to the SIGA network “is not complying” with proper operation.
Speaking to JM-FM radio, the mayor reports that in the Garajau area, “where thousands of people live and hundreds take the bus,” he is aware that “there are children who have classes at 8 am and go to the stop to catch the 6:30 am bus that passes full, wait for the 7 am bus that also passes full and what happens is that these students and workers, who work in Funchal, end up staying and having to travel by car or take a later bus.”
“What is happening at the moment is that many students cannot take the bus, parents have to go and take them in by car, further congesting the highway and the Cancela area, which is effectively another problem we have due to the necessary work that, by themselves, cause major traffic headaches, and if we do not have effective public transport, it congests traffic even more.”
Finally, Milton Teixeira says that he understands “that this change has come to improve and that will happen”, but, currently, “there is the immediate problem of having enough public transport to cope with the demands of the people who simply want to get to work or school.”
The new buses have considerably less seating, as the old buses, had a 3 seat/2 seat configuration.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
