As of 15 May, around 42,000 Macao permanent residents had been issued with a mainland Chinese driver’s licence without needing to sit additional tests, the Transport Bureau said in a statement yesterday.
These motorists benefited from an agreement that was reached between Macao and the mainland more than a year ago to recognise each other’s driver licences.
According to the bureau, an additional 4,600 Macao residents with mainland Chinese licences also managed to acquire a SAR driver’s licence under the initiative, which was implemented on 16 May 2023 as a means to facilitate cross-border business and tourism trips for Macao and mainland Chinese motorists.
“The main goal is to allow Macao residents to integrate into life in the Greater Bay Area and give them further convenience,” the Transport Bureau director Lam Hin San said of the program last year.
[See more: Car journeys to mainland China via the HZMB are booming]
He also noted that as many as 200,000 Macao driver’s licence holders could benefit from the program.
When the program was first announced, here were concerns regarding safety and the worsening of Macao’s traffic. Lam, however, assured the public that the SAR’s traffic would not be affected since mainland Chinese visitors were more inclined to use public transport or casino shuttle buses to get around Macao.
While the program permits Macao motorists to obtain a mainland licence without sitting an exam, applicants are required to fulfil certain criteria such as being holders of a light motor vehicle licence.
In addition to the mutual driver’s licence recognition program, the authorities have been pushing for greater interconnectivity between the SAR and mainland China through the Northbound Travel Scheme.
