Monte Train & Green Line Get Green Light ; Docking Problems ; TAP Strike Disruptions
(23rd September). ‘Green Line Inaugurated – Two buses operate the route between the Electricity Museum and Piornais’. In the first phase of the new ‘Linha Verde’ in Funchal, the buses will run every half hour until the end of October. In November eight more eco-friendly vehicles will join the team, and the service will then run every 7 minutes. The buses comply with European rules and it is possible to reduce pollution by 80%. I thought the new buses might be different in appearance, or in colour at least, but the feature on last nights TV news showed what looked like the usual yellow buses with a green window sticker. Great initiative though.
‘Port Doesn’t Have Conditions To Welcome Mega Yachts’. A mega yacht, ‘One More Toy’, coming from Gibraltar on Monday was forced to drop anchor in Funchal bay, after an attempt to moor in the port failed, even though the harbour area itself was almost empty. The attempt to moor was "completely frustrated by a lack of technical conditions", as it is necessary to remove fenders placed in the area, which will damage the hulls of mega yachts. Access to the pier for the crew is also complicated, because much depends on the height of the tide, which can make crew departure / access dangerous. The inadequate effort made for a port of this kind does "absolutely nothing for the image of the region", and many of the skippers choose not to return to Funchal, going to other ports of the Azores or Canary Islands instead. ‘One More Toy’ was eventually able to dock properly yesterday morning. It only stopped here just for refuelling en route to the Caribbean.
‘ACIF Presents SOLGEST’. The chamber of commerce of Funchal presents tomorrow at 9.30 am, in the Electricity Museum, a programme of optimisation of energy consumption for the hotel industry of Madeira. The initiative is co-sponsored by the European Economic Area through the EEA Grants Fund, and is open to all our hotel owners. The central objective is to implement a concept of continuous local monitoring, with centralised analysis of the data, ultimately identifying areas for intervention and savings opportunities leading to reductions in costs and energy consumption. The initiative involves a team of expert consultants in technology intervention.
(22nd September). ‘Saga Holidays Distinguishes Monte Mar – The Hotel of Ponta Delgada continues in the ‘top ten’ of the units of European brochures’. The Monte Mar Palace, in Ponta Delgada on the north coast, returned this year amongst the ten most desirable hotels by the customers of UK tour operator Saga Holidays, in its brochure for Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a fact that since almost the day of the opening of the hotel in 2003, it has received the best reviews from the British operators, who awarded it its first distinction of ‘Top Stay ‘in 2004, after just a year of operation. Some brits like it so much, they spend 3 months alternating between there and elsewhere. Saga holidays are only available to those aged 50 and over.
‘Funchal Port Is Number 28 In Europe’. In terms of the number of passenger movements, Funchal is the 28th busiest in Europe, but last year dropped 3 places in the world(?) rankings. In what is termed the ‘Iberic’ ports Funchal occupies 6th place. Lisbon, which last year robbed Funchal of first place in national ports, is now 60th in the world ranking, and 27th in Europe. The busiest cruise port in the world is Miami, with 4.13 million passengers. Barcelona is the biggest cruise destination in Europe with 2.06 million passengers.
‘TAP Secures Half Of The Flights To Madeira On The Days Of The Strike – Pilots of the flagship airline company on strike Thursday and Friday’. The administration of Portugal’s favourite airline have guaranteed that at least four of the eight flights on each of the two days of the strike will take place. A spokesman for TAP advises that any passengers due to fly on those two days check the situation before travelling to the airport. The pilots are striking over a pay demand.
(21st September). ‘Monte Train Returns – The project has a budget of €6.5 million’. The works haven’t started yet, but the Monte train project is a certainty. Once the land is obtained (by expropriation / compulsory purchase) and the works that will take 18 months to complete, it should be open in less than two years time. A spokesman for the various stakeholders said it is a good initiative uniting public and private input that will benefit Madeira. The train will run the same course of the original route, but only between stations at Largo da Fonte in Monte and Terreiro da Luta. The old train will be will be replaced by a modern funicular, similar in appearance, with room for 60 passengers. The expropriation process has already started.
