Buses in Macao

In Macao, there are two public franchise bus companies which operate routes on the Macao peninsula and the two islands.They are namely:

1. Transportes Urbanos de Macau (Transmac)

Transportes Urbanos de Macau (Transmac) was previously known as Companhia de Autocarros Fok Lei. It was founded in 1948, it was restructured and changed its name to Transportes Urbanos de Macau in July 1988. Now, Transmac is the largest bus company in Macao. As of December 2004, Transmac owned 343 air-conditioned buses and operated 26 routes between Macao and the two islands. In recent years, Transmac has even expanded its business on the mainland. Additionally, it is also the only bus company which offers the e-ticket IC card system and bus-to-bus interchange service. Moreover, Transmac has also introduced environmentally friendly low-platform buses that suit Macao’s traffic conditions (Macao Yearbook).

2. Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau (TCM)

Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau (TCM) was previously known as Companhia de Transporte de Passageiros entre Macau e as Ilhas). Actually, this company originally provided maritime transportation services (ferry) between Macao and the two islands in the early times. Only in 1950s, it acquired several bus companies that served residents of Taipa and Coloane, and thereafter stop providing maritime transportation services and change to operate public buses. The company purchases a number of famous-brand air-conditioned buses and put them into operation as public buses serving Macao and its islands. TCM now operates more than 200 air-conditioned buses on 16 routes on the Macao peninsula and the two islands. Bus Fares range from 2.5 patacas within the Macao peninsula to 5 patacas to Coloane (Macao Yearbook).

There were also double-deck buses once in Macao. But because the streets of Macao were narrow and the signboards are not high enough, it was really difficult for double-deck buses to pass through. The government of Macao had once thought of raising the signboards and expanding the roads. However, because this was a big project and really needed a lot of money, therefore, the government required the bus companies to pay two third of this sum of reconstruction and the bus companies rejected to do so. As a result, the government abolished using double-deck buses. That is also the reason why till today, the buses of Macao still remain as single-deck buses (The development of Buses).
Reference: The development of Buses

Reference: Macao Yearbook (2005). Published by the Government Information Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region. (p.461-462).