Stage 4 will begin from outside the town hall with a 'symbolic start' at 1215 and pass along the N295 road towards Ferreiras, Paderne and beyond. Expect road closures for around 30 minutes during the actual race and perhaps for longer before the start. Stage 4 maps

Giro fares are to increase from 1st January, making these buses even less attractive for many than they are now.

New fares : 1 zone cash €2.05, 2 zones cash €2,65 with the prepaid pass any journey €1,65. Only valid for one trip. If you get on another bus, you pay again.

Three day tourist pass card €20,35 and five days an incredible €33,55. Plus €3 for the rechargeable card. Buy a monthly pass instead but note that for visitors ID is required at the time of purchase.

Monthly Passes : Adult 1 zone €18,50 2 zones €22,50. Seniors 1 zone €11,50, 2 zones €13,50

No reduction for children except residents, who travel free at all times.

I have the VAMUS app on my phone but only for their interurban regional buses. What you have may have done is to create a pre paid account for those. Using that a fare is deducted each time to travel to, say, Vilamoura or Portimão. But it's not valid on the GIRO or on other local buses in places like Portimão and Lagos.

Giro buses are on separate system. Because I qualify for a senior residents pass, I have never had to use the app for the monthly pass. The monthly pass is a separate purchase, which sems to work like this.

BUY PRODUCT - SEE AVAILABLE PRODUCTS - PASS MENSAL (TODA A REDE) [€21,50]

TAP QR CODE REFERENCE ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR ACCOUNT - CONTINUE - SKIP THIS STEP - [SELECT PAYMENT METHOD] - BANK CARD - CONTINUE  - then fill out the form and pay.

It does not refer back to any monies you have may already have in your account.

The senior's pass can only be reloaded at the bus station, not on line. Another reason I don't use the app! They are supposed to ask for ID on renewal, but never do.

MBWAY is a system of paying on line if you have a Portuguese bank account.

I made a new account on the Vamus app on my Android phone and successfully added Euro 50.00 to my account, but am unable to buy the "Passe mensal (Toda a Rede)" monthly passes that are listed for E21.50 each.

I thought by adding E50 to my "wallet" in the app (and I can see the E50 was added successfully), that I could order the monthly passes and it would use that money in the wallet to pay for the passes, but it asks for my bank card payment again even though I already have added E50 to my account. 

The other pay option in the app is some "MBWAY" which I'm not sure what that is. I tried that as well, but it gets stuck after saying that it is going to send me a Push notification to my phone. I changed the phone "Country code" to USA "+1" and enter my phone number but unfortunately nothing arrives on my phone.

So then we went to the main bus station in Albufeira to buy the monthly Giro buses at the counter, but when the lady tried to make us two monthly bus pass cards,  her card printer was broken. She said we should come back later.

At this stage, I'm just trying to still get the monthly giro passes but don't see how to do it.

Any suggestions?

If nothing works, I'm wondering how to get my E50 back from the Vamus app "wallet" :-)

Thanks for the help!!!

That worked!

Brand new user - excuse any mistakes in posting this, please! :-)

My wife and I are visiting Albufeira for 5 weeks and have not rented a car (yet). We want to get around by bus initially.

We're trying to buy two monthly passes for the Giro busses on the Vamus app, but am stuck with filling in the account info where it asks for a NIF. What is a NIF? It is an essential field but have no clue what is being requested! :-)

Thanks!!!

Barry.

Heads up that this is now only available to residents. Alternatives for visitors are either the full price adult pass at €18 for 1 zone, €21,50 for both zones or the pre-paid ten journey card at €16 for ten journeys on the system, but each time you get on a different bus you pay again.

The adult pass can be on a physical card purchased and recharged at the bus station or downloaded onto your phone.

In addition, all schoolchildren here travel free. There is no child discount on the Giro buses for visitors of school age. Very little ones can still go free.

These are funded by taxpayer's money within a new national system of free travel for younger people and reduced rates for older ones.