Porto, Jan. 29, 2025 (Lusa) - Porto's city council is to suspend restrictions it had imposed on tourist vehicles and occasional service buses in the historic centre, following a ruling by the Administrative and Fiscal Court (TAF) in a case brought by several companies affected, the mayor said on Wednesday.
"As soon as there is this court decision... we have to allow these measures to be extended to all operators," said the mayor, Rui Moreira. "Nobody would understand if operators who were less fortunate or who didn't act against the council were left out of these measures."
At issue is a pilot project to bar most tourist vehicle traffic that began on 1 October 2024, and restricted the circulation of tourist vehicles in downtown and central Porto.
Only a tourist 'train' and hop-on, hop-off double-decker buses were allowed to circulate in a delimited zone in the centre of Porto, under municipal licences. Tuk-tuks and occasional service tourist buses were prevented from circulating.
However, the Porto TAF accepted an injunction lodged by 12 tour operators against the municipality of Porto, and ordered the suspension of restrictions in the historic centre for these companies.
Moreira told reporters that this was "the first [decision] unfavourable to the municipality" on the matter, after five earlire final decisions in its favour.
"We weren't expecting this outcome because the decision has been the opposite," he said, adding that the municipality will appeal against the rulig, even though lodging an appeal will not mean it can avoid allowing the vehicles in for now.
"Although today's decision has its effects limited to the twelve plaintiff companies, we understand that this cannot mean the attribution of any monopoly in the city of Porto," he said, adding that “other measures” will be taken to reduce the impact of the traffic.
Although no new measures have yet been drawn up, the mayor cited as possible examples restricting traffic in certain streets, restricting access on certain days of the week or at certain times of the day, and specifying places for vehicles to park and pick up or drop off passengers.
"We have to start from scratch; we have to reset," he said. "Having reset, we now need to listen to the municipal departments, the Municipal Police and think about how we can implement other measures that somehow mitigate this problem we have."
Regarding the pilot project, which has been underway for just over three months, Moreira said that it had enabled "traffic calming" and lamented that the court's decision would incite "chaos" in the city centre.
"From now on, anyone who wants to operate tuk-tuks [in the area] can do so," he said.
In the TAF's decision, dated Tuesday and to which Lusa had access on Wednesday, the judge states that it is not possible to "conclude that there is a preponderant damage to the public interest that implies refusal of the injunction."
The 12 companies lodged an injunction against the municipality to suspend the effectiveness of the tender for just five licences to operate tourist circuits and to ensure the free movement of tourist vehicles in the restricted area.
The tender for five licences to operate tourist circuits has also been suspended, Moreira added.
Speaking to Lusa on Wednesday, Alex Dominguez Ramos, director of WildBloom, one of the 12 operators of vehicles with up to nine seats - tuk-tuks, buggies and transfer vans - who brought the action, said that with this decision, the court has "proved the companies right" on the matter at hand.
"The damage that has already been done and that would be done without this ruling would be irreparable," said Dominguez Ramos.
"We're still willing to find a solution, because we know there are traffic problems, but I don't think an apology [from the council] would go amiss," he added.
SPC/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
