The Funchal City Council (CMF) is implementing 775 meters of new BUS lanes on several streets of the city, including Rua 5 de Outubro, Rua 31 de Janeiro and Visconde de Anadia. These roads are described as narrow and already constituting historic bottlenecks in the city's traffic.
The measures include the elimination of parking spaces on Rua da Infância, the prohibition of pedestrian crossing on Ponte do Pelourinho and the implementation of strict time windows for loading and unloading (10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm) on Rua 31 de Janeiro. The use of BUS lanes by motorcycles and tricycles was also authorized.
The article argues that the suppression of lanes for general traffic without effective peripheral alternatives tends to displace traffic rather than resolve it, creating a funnel effect on the historic streets. Independent councilor Luís Filipe Santos argues that the municipality will need rigor in monitoring and the humility to backtrack or readjust the plan if wait times and the loss of accessibility outweigh the gains in bus speed.
The Liberal Initiative (IL) emphasized that the reduction of road capacity without ensuring dedicated areas for loading and unloading risks paralyzing economic activity or causing constant infractions. The article also questions the timing of the measure, warning that the return of school traffic and the end of holidays could maximize the risk of collapse in the first weeks of classes.
