The public bus route No.15 travelling between Taipa’s Ocean Gardens and Coloane’s Ka Ho hamlet will be revamped from this coming Saturday, when the route will become a more direct one, a change from its current convoluted route, with the aim of shortening the route’s journey time and increasing its trip frequency.
The route No.15 is run by Transmac, one of Macau’s two public bus operators.
The Transport Bureau (DSAT) announced the route’s revamp in a statement late last week.
After departing from Taipa’s Ocean Gardens, the route No.15 currently runs along Estrada Governador Albano de Oliveira (the avenue outside the now-defunct Macau Jockey Club), travels past Flower City Park, and runs along central Cotai’s Estrada do Istmo flanked by casino resorts, before arriving at Coloane’s Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood.
From there the No.15 runs to Coloane Village, travels near Cheoc Van Beach, and serves Hac Sa Beach, before stopping outside Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park, from where it finally runs towards Ka Ho hamlet.
The return segment of the No.15 runs to Hac Sa Reservoir Natural Park, Hac Sa Beach, Cheoc Van Beach, Coloane Village, the One Oasis private residential estate, the Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood, central Cotai, Taipa Village, and Estrada Governador Albano de Oliveira, before finally returning to Ocean Gardens.
Due to its particularly convoluted route, each trip of the No.15, which operates between 5:30 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. daily, only departs every 30 to 35 minutes, even though quite a few vehicles are used for this route.
In addition to the route No.15, Transmac currently runs an express one-way route, No.15S, enabling those in Ka Ho hamlet to travel to central Taipa and Ocean Gardens in a much shorter time. The No.15S only stops at the Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood, near the Broadway Macau casino resort in west Cotai, outside Taipa Central Park, and outside the CTM headquarters, before arriving at Ocean Gardens.
However, the No.15S only departs once a day between Mondays and Fridays, at 7:30 a.m. It does not operate on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
Moreover, the public bus operator currently runs an express return route, No.15S1, travelling between the Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood and the Vila de Nossa Senhora cultural heritage (former leprosarium) area, which is located between the Ka Ho oil depot and the area’s social service facilities.
However, the No.15S1 currently only has eight return trips every day, between 8:20 a.m. and 6 p.m.
According to late last week’s DSAT statement, the current routes No.15S and No.15S1 will merge into the route No.15 from this coming Saturday, meaning that the No.15S and No.15S1 will be abolished, while the No.15 will be significantly shortened from a convoluted one.
The statement underlined that the revamp will enable the No.15 to depart more frequently. The new version of the route will depart every 22 to 26 minutes. Its operating hours will be extended a bit longer, between 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. daily.
According to the statement, the new version of the route No.15 will have the same itinerary between Taipa’s Ocean Gardens and Coloane’s Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood as the current version. Afterwards, the route’s new version will travel towards Ka Ho much more directly, by using Estrada do Altinho de Ká Hó.
In addition to the hamlet of Ka Ho, the new version of the route No.15 will also stop outside the Vila de Nossa Senhora cultural heritage area and near the Ka Ho oil depot, neither of which are on the route’s current version.
The statement advises passengers getting onto a No.15 bus but wishing to travel to areas such as Coloane Village, Cheoc Van Beach, and Hac Sa Beach to transfer to other suitable routes, starting from this coming Saturday.
Route between Seac Pai Van & ‘A Ma La’
Meanwhile, the statement also announced that the No.52, travelling between Coloane’s Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood and the peninsula’s Praça de Ferreira do Amaral (colloquially known in Cantonese simply as “A Ma La”), will newly serve the One Oasis private residential estate and its adjacent Concórdia Industrial Park from this coming Saturday.
Except the newly served locations, the itinerary of the No.52 will remain unchanged as currently, where the route, after departing from Seac Pai Van, runs to the Broadway Macau casino resort in west Cotai, Estrada Governador Albano de Oliveira, and Ocean Gardens, before arriving at “A Ma La”, from where the return segment runs to Ocean Gardens, and Galaxy Macau casino resort in west Cotai, before returning to Seac Pai Van.
Passengers get onto a No.52 bus at the Praça de Ferreira do Amaral bus terminal yesterday. – Photo: Tony Wong
A No.15 is parked outside the Ocean Gardens bus terminal earlier this week. – Photo courtesy of TDM
This map in Portuguese released by the Transport Bureau (DSAT) last week shows the new version of the route No.15, and suggested transfer routes to Coloane Village, Cheoc Van Beach, and Hac Sa Beach.
