Porto, May 5, 2026 (Lusa) - Porto city council approved a proposal on Monday night for free public transport, allowing residents to travel throughout the metropolitan area at an estimated annual cost of €20.5 million.
Although the executive wants to launch the measure this summer, it is scheduled for 1 January 2027.
Only the Chega party voted against the proposal, while the CDU party and the "Filipe Araújo: Fazer à Porto" (an independent local movement) municipal group abstained.
Socialist MP Agostinho Sousa Pinto justified his favourable vote by saying the party did not want to take a "position of easy rejection or systemic opposition," despite believing "attracting more people to public transport does not depend on price alone" and that the measure has "technical and financial weaknesses."
Carlos Graca, representing Chega, said the executive failed to present documents ensuring the proposal’s "sustainability, equity and legality."
PSD representative Ignácio Prieto called it the "start of a path" towards a city where "public transport will more often be considered the first option." The CDS-PP shared this view and said it hoped other districts in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP) would also join.
Joana Sousa said IL party is committed to "monitoring the execution of all measures in the [PSD/CDS-PP/IL] programme to ensure this mobility strategy has visible results in the city's life." This follows comments in March from IL MP Pedro Schuller, who said the party "disliked" the measure.
CDU's Francisco Calheiros criticised the "lack of consistency" in PSD proposals nationally, "proposing free transport for everyone in some cities and not in others."
Susana Constante Pereira, from BE party, said free public transport "will only achieve its goal if accompanied by reinforced capacity," though she considered it necessary to "take a first step."
Bernardo Marta, from Livre party, welcomed the executive's "ecological measure" and asked for it to include soft mobility, such as more cycle paths.
António Agostinho Guedes, from the "Filipe Araujo: Fazer a Porto" group, said he wanted to give the benefit of the doubt but hoped for a "quantification of the objectives representing the measure's success."
Porto’s mayor, Pedro Duarte (PSD/CDS-PP/IL), acknowledged the measure would have "greater efficacy" if adopted by various AMP districts and that "improving the collective transport service" is necessary, but he hopes it promotes a "paradigm shift."
The proposal says it is "appropriate to replace the current model with an integrated tariff, associated with the Porto Card (a city-specific citizen card), with a territorial scope equivalent to the Andante Metropolitan Pass (the existing regional transport pass) and access to integrated public transport services."
The budget allocation for the programme is a maximum of €10.25 million for 2026, €18.7 million for 2027 and €1.8 million for 2028.
The contract justification study points to a preliminary maximum annual cost estimate of approximately €20.5 million, representing an average monthly cost of €1.71 million.
The draft contract between the city council and Porto Metropolitan Transport (TMP) "produces financial and operational effects on 1 July 2026, or on the date of the Court of Auditors' approval, if later."
The council expects around 60,000 public transport users. This figure, resulting from the "public transport modal share," represents 23.5% of the estimated resident population for 2025 (252,687), based on the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) currently under preparation.
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