Rede Expressos contested on Tuesday the "false accusations" made by FlixBus, which last week filed a lawsuit against the Barraqueiro Group company, in a dispute that has been ongoing for several months and focuses on the Sete Rios bus terminal in Lisbon.
The company considers the accusations of non-compliance with the court ruling to be false and damaging to its reputation, emphasizing that it authorized FlixBus to operate at the Sete Rios terminal on May 22. Rede Expressos points to the successive changes to desired schedules, the incomplete or late submission of necessary information, and the lack of required authorizations as reasons for the delay. The company assures that FlixBus could have started operating as early as August, but that "it only failed to do so on its own responsibility," and that it communicated September 24 as the start date for operations, a date that was reportedly suggested by FlixBus itself.
Rede Expressos further maintains that there is a safety problem at the terminal that would worsen if the infrastructure were transformed "into a space without rules, without consideration for its physical capacity." The company contests the interpretation of the law that supports the IMT decision to allow authorizations issued for services with origin or destination at Gare do Oriente to be used to operate in Sete Rios, considering that each additional arrival or departure implies the use of platforms, parking, and other areas of the terminal.
The dispute intensified last week after FlixBus filed an enforcement action to demand compliance with the March 8 ruling by the Administrative Court of the Circle of Lisbon, which ordered the transport company access to the terminal. FlixBus accuses Rede Expressos of creating only an "appearance of compliance" and states that it filed the enforcement action in August along with a criminal complaint against the company's managers. FlixBus is expected to start 21 schedules in Sete Rios from September 24.
