Changes to Giro bus routes in Albufeira

There are now small posters and maps (but no timetables) at the bus station but at the stops there is nothing at all about the new system. Some stops still have the old maps on show, there never was a published timetable of course. How can a public transport operation expect to attract passengers if they don't now where and when the buses will run? That was certainly the case on Saturday morning, with the driver on Linha 9 having to deal with questions and complaints because of the lack of information. Not every has a phone in their hand and even those who do probably don't know where to look.

Another thing I noticed was that the timetable is very tight. Despite making only four stops in the 23 minutes of my journey, we only just reached the end stop on time. At busy times (e.g. school times) things could get very out of sync.

As I suspected the new timetables are proving impossible for the drivers to keep. Yesterday afternoon my bus back from Continente to Páteo was 17 minutes late, this morning my bus from Páteo to the nearest place I can now to get for the bowls club was 14 minutes late. Not helped by every bus being flagged down at every stop where people are waiting to ask the driver if he or she is going where they want to go and then a minute's debate ensues about which one they should take.

There is NO INFORMATION at all at the bus stops. If you are so unlucky as to not to have access to the website or app, you are clearly not worthy of being transported. Completely unacceptable.

Complete chaos on the system yesterday. In the early morning, my bus was 'only' 8 minutes late when I got on, 11 minutes late when I got off across town. Later in the morning the buses were running 20 - 25 minutes behind schedule and not just on my route. One bus sailed by the stop where I waiting with 3 others, despite two of us signalling. Still no information at bus stops, so people still have to flag down the driver to ask where he or she is going.

 It's clearly not working and I expect changes in the not too distant future.

The principal behind it is sound, but the execution up to Albufeira's usual standards. Get people out of cars and onto buses. Except making it almost as dear for two people to catch a bus to Seismarias as the cost of getting an UBER from door to door isn't the way to do it. The usual complete lack of information is no help either.

Clowns.