Taxis rarer than VIPs

The Venetian Macao began building its integrated resort on Cotai more than three years ago. At this week’s opening, what was foretold back then came to pass: the city's transport infrastructure wasn’t strong enough to handle all the new visitors.

Despite the addition of a fleet of big blue Venetian buses at both the main ferry terminal and the Gongbei border gate, public transport appeared to quite literally evaporate on the Venetian’s opening night. There were not nearly enough vehicles to move everyone to and from the resort, and lines stretched for 40-50 meters at its taxi rank. Macau's 830 taxis, fewer than the gaming tables inside The Venetian, were spread thin throughout the city.

Destination Macau's editorial team gave up on both buses and taxis after witnessing the chaos first-hand and opted instead to walk for 30 minutes through Taipa to their hotel. They were fortunate enough to be staying in Taipa. Other guests who had to travel back to the peninsula were left fuming, some reportedly having to wait for more than two hours for a ride.

The shortages continued the next day. Even though the Venetian seemed to cope with its traffic flow during the afternoon, visits to resorts on the peninsula showed long lines of people waiting at taxi ranks – in vain, it seemed, for most taxis were out at the Venetian.

It is not clear when the transportation situation will improve before 2011, when the new light rail stytem is expected to be operational. The system will cost MOP4.2 billion to build and run 20km throughout the city.