Court Overturns FlixBus Access Order at Lisbon’s Sete Rios Terminal

A Portuguese appeals court has thrown out a ruling that ordered Rede Nacional de Expressos (RNE, the company that runs Lisbon’s Sete Rios bus terminal and also operates coaches) to give FlixBus immediate access to the station. The German bus company said on Thursday it will appeal, according to the Lusa news agency.

For passengers, nothing changes overnight. FlixBus has been running 23 daily departures from Sete Rios since Sept. 29, and the decision does not end those services. It does remove the court order FlixBus was counting on to win more slots, including at busy hours.

What the appeals court decided

The Tribunal Central Administrativo Sul (TCAS, the central administrative appeals court for southern Portugal) issued its ruling on Oct. 29. It sided with RNE, which had challenged a March decision by the Lisbon administrative court (Tribunal Administrativo de Círculo de Lisboa). That lower court had ordered RNE to let FlixBus in within the terminal’s real capacity, to identify which bays and parking spaces were free, to assess each of the 96 timetables FlixBus had requested one by one, and to give objective reasons for any refusal.

The appeals judges did not rule on whether FlixBus deserves full access. Their reasoning was procedural, as reported by Observador and ECO. FlixBus had used an urgent procedure meant to protect rights, freedoms and guarantees, which the court said is reserved for cases that need a fast and final decision. In its view, the company should have filed an ordinary administrative lawsuit, combined with a request for interim protection. FlixBus can still bring a new case of that kind.

The court also stated that running the terminal is subject to public duties and to the administrative courts, even though RNE is a private company.

What each company says

FlixBus said the ruling rests on wrong assumptions and deals only with procedure. As proof that Sete Rios has room, it points to a decision by the AMT (Autoridade da Mobilidade e dos Transportes, Portugal’s transport regulator) that ordered Rede Expressos to grant it access, and to its own 23 daily departures. The company told Lusa the terminal has also authorized another 16 schedules to start in November, plus 16 further slots that first need approval from the IMT (Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes, the land transport authority) for new routes. That process can take up to eight months, FlixBus said. Observador and ECO report a different figure, saying the terminal authorized 20 additional schedules.

RNE says the terminal is overcrowded. In its view, it only has to accept new departures when they do not put operations and safety at risk. An official source at Rede Expressos told Lusa it will keep giving FlixBus and any other operator access “in compliance with the law” and the terminal’s rules and safety conditions.

What it means for bus passengers in Lisbon

Sete Rios is the main hub for long-distance coaches in Lisbon, and the fight over it has lasted three years. When FlixBus moved in on Sept. 29, it said its 23 daily departures used less than 2% of the terminal’s capacity. It also complained that it could not run any services between 16:30 and 20:30, one of the busiest times of day for travelers. FlixBus said then that the dispute was far from settled.

With the lower-court order gone, RNE keeps control over which extra schedules FlixBus gets, subject to the AMT decision and any new lawsuit. Passengers who use FlixBus from Lisbon will keep seeing a limited timetable at Sete Rios, especially in the late afternoon, until either the courts or new rules change that.

New national rules for bus terminals

On Oct. 22, the government approved a new legal framework for public passenger bus terminals. It aims to give operators access on terms that are “equitable, transparent and non-discriminatory,” according to the government. The new rules standardize how terminals are set up and managed, require managers to act more neutrally, and create a national platform with information on terminal capacity, schedules and prices.

What happens next

FlixBus plans to appeal the TCAS ruling. Separately, it could file the ordinary administrative case the appeals court pointed to. The 16 extra schedules FlixBus says are cleared for November would be the next change passengers can see at Sete Rios.

Sources: RTP Notícias, Observador, ECO