Lisbon, Dec. 20, 2024 (Lusa) - Low-cost intercity passenger transport provider Flixbus aims to strengthen its operations in Portugal's interior and is pondering adding new destinations, at a time when it is still barred from operating out of Lisbon's main bus terminal, Sete Rios, its managing director for Portugal, Pablo Pastega, has told Lusa.
"At the moment we operate in 90 cities, a number we want to increase, and we're going mainly, but not only, to the interior, because we still have some important cities in the interior of Portugal that aren't connected," Pastega said, without giving details.
According to Pastega, the important thing is to connect more and more cities in Portugal, but also in Spain, and he hopes to announce new routes soon.
In a statement, Flixbus said that it will "add 11 new destinations, all in the interior of the country" and that of the total number of destinations on the network in 2025, "around half will be in the interior."
The managing director also denounced the situation at Lisbon's Sete Rios terminal, where Flixbus is still unable to operate.
"It's very frustrating," he lamented, noting that the terminal infrastructure “is very good” but that the company has yet to receive an answer from Lisbon city council regarding its application and is therefore not authorised to operate. According to Pablo Pastega, the justification given so far a lack of space - something he says is not true.
Meanwhile, Coimbra "is one of Flixbus’s priorities in terms of stops, since Rua do Padrão doesn't fulfil the minimum conditions of comfort and safety, and Coimbra city council hasn't responded to this problem either," he said, quoted in the statement.
In the same statement, Flixbus said that from this week and until January it is reinforcing "all its domestic and international lines in order to meet the mobility needs of the Portuguese and tourists visiting the country this Christmas season."
According to the carrier, "in the domestic operation... there are journeys that increase by up to 60%, with a total increase of 24% on the domestic network and 15% on the international operation."
According to Flixbus, "the Lisbon-Porto connection will have up to 166 journeys (83 each way) during this Christmas and New Year period, which represents an increase of around 60% compared to the previous year, when 104 journeys were made available on this route" and "Coimbra is also seeing an increase in demand, which is why journeys to that city have been increased by 29%."
In addition, the company pointed out, this year Flixbus has seen "an increase in demand for the cities of Guarda, Viseu, Aveiro and Figueira da Foz" and "in order to meet this increase in demand, all journeys to these regions have been reinforced with more timetables and frequencies.
"As for the Algarve, it continues to be one of the Portuguese's favourite destinations for New Year's Eve, which is why, like last year, Flixbus has also strengthened its connections to the south of the country," it said.
ALN/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
