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cubsur View Drop Down
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Joined: 26/January/2006
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15/March/2013 at 09:54
If you plan to make more than three GIRO trips a day, buy a day pass for 4 Euros from the driver.

If you plan to make more than half a dozen trips while here, go to the bus shop or bus station and buy the pre-pay pass.

3 Euros for the card then load with 10 or 20 tickets at 80 cents so

10 trips = 11 Euros or €1.10 each, 20 trips (maximum in one recharge) 19 Euros or 95 cents each.

My card is in its 5th year of service! You can keep your card for the next visit or hand it back and apparently you get your 3 Euros back.

Each single ticket is valid one hour, so you can change buses to complete a journey as long as it's within that hour.
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pyrman View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/March/2013 at 13:13
On the last line of Cubsur`s advice, I have regularly done three buses on one ticket and with most drivers (no idea if it is legal) if you JOIN his bus within the hour, you have around 1.5 hours for the one ticket. This is particularly true if you live in one end of town and need to trip to the other, requiring two buses out, possibly changing at Liberdade or Town Hall for the third leg. That is one area where Cubsur`s www.algarvebus.info site timetables ... and my own printed version... are so important, though, obviously, a lot of tourists will not be too bothered about spending an extra 80 cents.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/March/2013 at 13:38
It may be a bit presumptious, but having studied the system, I believe improvements could be made to `connect` east and west more. `Laranja` has an extra 10 mins free and could easily take over that part of Vermelha 2 to Calicos ...(from Ferreiras), then to Modelo, along the inner road ... to Town Hall and back to bus station. This would free up time for Vermelha 2 to go down the South Strip (as blue goes up the North) along to Pedra dos Bicos, up Sta Eulalia and back to its normal route. We`d then have more connectivity in all directions, apart from Pateo and Marina on the Red 1 route. ... though that has  meetings with Red 2 at Liberdade and Ludico park. Red 1 already goes to Town Hall and could easily return to bus station via Descobrimentos, Ferreiras road and Calicos to keep the latter route at 4 per hour.

Looks good and sounds good ... but, is it practical ?
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cubsur View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/March/2013 at 14:16
Good point about the one hour thing. I have never done three buses on one ticket, but as long as it is timed for no more than hour before you board the next bus there seems to be no problem. Unless you are trying making a quick return to where you came from.

As for route changes, the Laranja buses usually have 25 minutes layover at the bus station between trips. I have also thought it would be more useful if they spent ten minutes or so going down into the old town from Ferreiras, then back round past the town hall for the shops etc rather than people having to wait 20 minutes for another bus.

Alternatively, if Vermehla 1 was sent along the same road near the Health Centre and told to wait for the Laranja from Ferreiras at the stop there (Cocheira), the same would be achieved without any extra mileage. Annoyingly and confusingly, this stop is actually shown on the official route diagram as a connection, even though Vermelha 1 doesn't actually stop there!

At the moment you only have a 'connection' at Camping Albufeira, which involves crossing a busy road and you never know whether the other one has just gone or not and whether you have to wait 29 minutes for the next one.

Vermelha 2 is the most useful cross town bus. I don't know what traffic it gets at Quinta de Balaia (not a lot I should think) and it would quite possibly be of more purpose if  at the least it headed from the bullring down and back along Estrada de Santa Eulalia, although there is only one stop there, to provide a quick and direct link between that area and the big supermarkets (Continente and Pingo Doce) as well as the town hall area. Shouldn't take any longer.

And better than having to do a tour of Montechoro.

The current meets between Vermelha 1 and 2 are very hit and miss. Possibly too difficult to manage more accurately, especially in summer when traffic gets jammed up in the Avenida Liberdade.

I can see a consultancy coming!
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Jayjan View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/March/2013 at 15:12
Never seen many people waiting at Quinta Da Balaia but I would imagine majority of traffic would  be used by the kids/mums from the school just higher up the road.
Polli the dancing cat strikes again.
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pyrman View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23/March/2013 at 17:40
Given the space on the other side of Descobrimentos, all the way down from health centre, you wonder why they haven`t moved car parking there, pedestrian access through the wee tunnel ... with Liberdade left for bus only .. then the tour buses (possibly a lot more of them) could be moved away from regular services.

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cubsur View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24/March/2013 at 09:10
That area floods regularly! It is very wet at the moment.

The new car park under construction at the roundabout will only add to the congestion. Vehicles waiting to enter will be forced to queue on the road. It's usually bad enough in summer already. First time visitors think they can park right in town, find they cannot then turn back, jamming everything up.

GIRO buses were very busy Friday and yesterday. There's a junior football tournament in town. The organisers have paid for free transport to anyone wearing the tournament ID. A majority of the other passengers were tourists of a certain age!
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Jock View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10/June/2013 at 20:47
Can I check whether the Giro fares are still €1.40 a trip and €4.00 for the day?
It is no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase 'As pretty as an Airport' appear. Douglas Adams
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cubsur View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13/June/2013 at 09:06
It is. And it's still 80 cents per journey if you buy the €3 pass and load it with 10 or 20 trips.

Which reminds me, mine needs topping up.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13/June/2013 at 11:29
Thanks.
It is no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase 'As pretty as an Airport' appear. Douglas Adams
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20/June/2013 at 00:03
If I buy a 20 trip card can I use it for a family of 4 or do we each need a card?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20/June/2013 at 08:07
You can use it for the whole family. Thumbs Up
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cubsur View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20/June/2013 at 09:13
Just make sure you tell the driver you want to pay more than one fare at one go.  The system doesn't like you passing the card across the reader four times in rapid sucession.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20/June/2013 at 15:02
I think I need to get out and use the bus but in the meantime a quick question as I don't have a route map in front of me.
 
Is the route from the likes of Lidl and the new Aldi straight forward enough from the Marina, from memory is is fairly direct in one direction but a bit of a tour on the return.
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20/June/2013 at 18:28
Thanks Cubsur. Your advice is greatly appreciated. It's great to be able to get information of this nature prior to arrival!
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