Government and Transmac to sign new public bus service contract

The Government and Transmac – Transportes Urbanos de Macau S.A.R.L. have reached an agreement to amend the latter’s public bus service contract. The new contract will be signed shortly. The revised contract with the bus operator will be signed by Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Raimundo Arrais do Rosário, on behalf of the Government, according to an executive order published in the Macao SAR Gazette on Monday (11 January). The amendments follow advice from the Commission Against Corruption after an analysis in 2013 of the city’s public bus service contracts. Transmac operates two groups of public bus routes in Macao. Public bus service operator Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau S.A.R.L. (TCM) signed a revised contract with the Government in September 2015. The Government had signed a contract with a new public bus service operator – Macau Nova Era de Autocarros Públicos S.A. (New Era) – in 2014. Both of these contracts already complied with the suggestions from the Commission Against Corruption. The Government and Transmac have worked closely on drafting the amendments to the contract and to ensure normal, uninterrupted public bus services during the negotiation period. Under the amended contract, Transmac will need to take more obligations and will be subject to supervision from the Government under the public services concession system. The company’s income will be linked to the quality of service provided. Details of the amended contract will be announced in due course. The contract provisions will be similar to those included in the contracts signed with New Era and TCM.