More than 21.5 million people traveled by public transport last year.
Not great news, when they have still not adjusted timetables, leaving many, especially locals unable to get a bus to work.
Also in the higher areas of some cities you are waiting hours for buses, as there are just not enough to deal with the amount of extra passengers.
More than 21.5 million passengers travelled on urban bus routes in 2024, which represents an increase of 25.1% compared to 2023, reveals today the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM).
The bus utilization coefficient — an indicator that relates demand to supply — stood at 19.1% on urban routes, registering an increase of 2.6 percentage points (pp) compared to the previous year.
Monthly analysis of the data reveals that, in all months of 2024, the number of passengers transported on urban routes exceeded 1.6 million, having approached 2 million in the months of May, October and November.
“It is important to highlight that the months of April and June were those that registered the most significant growth, with increases of 43.7% and 30.8%, respectively”, highlights DREM.
6.6 million passengers in the first three months of the year
In the first three months of this year, public transport by bus registered a total of 6.6 million passengers. However, DREM does not present the year-on-year variations due to the drop in the series “due to the implementation of a new ticketing system”.
By route, it can be seen that urban routes transported 4.1 million passengers between January and March this year, while intercity routes accounted for 2.4 million.