Macau casino shuttle use rises 47.3% in 2024, yet below pre-Covid
Macau’s casino shuttle buses carried nearly 52.98 million passengers in 2024, a 47.3% increase from 35.96 million in 2023, as per the latest data from the city’s Transport Bureau. However, this was still 16.1% lower than the 63.18 million recorded in 2019 before the pandemic.
A single journey in one direction is counted as one passenger movement. Many shuttle buses operate from the Border Gate with Zhuhai, the Taipa Ferry Terminal, the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, serving casinos in downtown Macau and Cotai. Some also run between Macau Peninsula and Cotai casino properties. While many users are tourists, some locals also use the service.
In 2024, Macau’s six casino operators ran 65 shuttle routes with 376 buses, compared to 59 routes with 281 buses in 2023 and 57 routes with 426 buses in 2019.
The total number of shuttle bus trips rose by 38.1% year-on-year to just under 3.1 million in 2024, up from about 2.2 million in 2023. In 2019, the figure was over 3.3 million.
At the start of the year, Hoffman Ma Ho Man, deputy chairman of satellite-casino backer Success Universe Group Ltd., stated in an interview that demand for hotel shuttle buses from Chinese and Hong Kong tourists remained strong. He added that the company would improve route planning and increase frequency to better serve tourists.
Public bus ridership nears pre-pandemic levels
Macau’s two public bus operators recorded around 227 million rides in 2024, according to the fourth-quarter data from the Transport Bureau. This was equivalent to about 624,700 daily rides, reflecting a 6.44% increase from 2023’s daily average of 586,900.
The 2024 figures were close to pre-pandemic levels, with 2019 recording 229 million rides, or a daily average of 627,200.
At the end of the fourth quarter, the busiest bus routes were 25B, MT4, and 25. Route 25B, which serves the Border Gate, the northern and central districts, Taipa, and Hengqin Port, carried a daily average of 26,999 passengers. MT4 and 25 saw daily ridership of 25,971 and 25,570, respectively.
In contrast, route 103X, which runs between the Taipa Ferry Terminal and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Frontier Port via the Macau Bridge, had the lowest number of riders, averaging just 582 passengers per day.
By the end of 2024, Macau had 86 public bus routes served by 1,007 buses, making an average of 9,640 daily trips—an increase of 5.84% year-on-year.
