The information was given by the general manager of FlixBus in Portugal and vice-president for Western Europe, Pablo Pastega, at a meeting with journalists in Lisbon.

The German multinational, which entered Portugal in 2017, recorded a turnover of €90.6 million last year, so the estimated losses from what it calls the “illegal blockade” of access to the Sete Rios terminal, “the largest and most important” in the country, represent almost 15%.

“This represents enormous economic damage for FlixBus, but it also affects passengers, who are forced to travel in worse conditions than they could,” said Pablo Pastega, accusing Rede Expressos of a “monopoly”.

In 2023, FlixBus lodged a formal complaint with the Mobility and Transport Authority (AMT) for refusing access to the Sete Rios terminal, operated by Rede Nacional de Expressos, and in May this year, the regulator ordered fair and non-discriminatory access to that infrastructure.

The AMT considered that “the exhaustion of the terminal’s capacity has not been proven and the existence of available capacity has been confirmed”, and that the manager must therefore “provide access to the terminal, within the available hours, which cannot be denied, to all operators who request it”, pointing out that violations of these rules “constitute administrative offences”.

“At the same time as they are denying our requests, we are noticing an increase in services operated by Rede Expressos,” denounced FlixBus, giving the examples of the Caldas da Rainha (Leiria district) and Fátima (Santarém) terminals.

The transport company, which operates in Europe, the United States and Asia, said it did not understand how, six months later, the decision had still not been effectively implemented, and stated that “Lisbon is the only European capital where it does not have access to the city’s main terminal”.

“If we have to go to the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union to comply with an AMT decision, we will do so, but we would like the Portuguese authorities to take action,” said Pablo Pastega.

On November 6, the company organised a symbolic action for free mobility in Sete Rios, with around half a hundred people dressed in the brand’s colours and carrying luggage.

For 2026, the company’s plan is to continue expanding and connecting district capitals outside the Lisbon-Coimbra-Porto axis and is already adding destinations where there was no express service before the market was opened up to competition at the end of 2019, such as Vila do Conde (Porto) and Mealhada (Aveiro).

One of the big bets for next year will be in Leiria, which will have a new public terminal, allowing FlixBus to almost triple its operation in that location.

“With Sete Rios, we have more options for growth. At the moment, our growth capacities are limited,” emphasised Pablo Pastega.