Court overturns order to let FlixBus into Sete Rios coach station immediately. Its 23 daily departures remain
In a ruling dated 29 October, the Central Administrative Court of the South (TCAS) overturned a March decision by the Lisbon Administrative Court. That decision had ordered Rede Nacional de Expressos, which owns the Sete Rios coach station in Lisbon and is also a coach operator, to give FlixBus immediate access (ECO). The appeal court did not rule on whether there is room at the station: it found that the urgent procedure was not suitable for this kind of dispute and that FlixBus must bring an ordinary claim.
For passengers, nothing changes for now. Since 29 September FlixBus has run 23 departures a day from Sete Rios, and Rede Expressos has promised to keep giving it and other operators access "in line with the law and the station rules". According to FlixBus, the station has already approved another 16 departures from November and agreed to a further 16. However, these last 16 require new routes, and the Institute for Mobility and Transport (Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes) takes up to eight months to license them (Notícias ao Minuto).
FlixBus is appealing against the ruling. The dispute has been going on for three years: Rede Expressos says the station is overcrowded, while FlixBus has asked for 96 departures a day. The transport regulator AMT had earlier ordered that FlixBus be given access to the station.
