Porto, June 26, 2025 (Lusa) - The ferry connection between Cais do Ouro, in Porto, and Afurada, in Gaia, will resume on Friday, the president of Transportes Metropolitanos do Porto (TMP), which invested €160,000 in this pilot project, said on Thursday.
According to Marco Martins, the pilot project will last four months and involve a boat with a capacity for 20 people, which will connect the two banks of the Douro River every hour in each direction, with the option to utilise the Andante transport system.
The service will start at 7:30 a.m. on Friday in Afurada, and “13 trips in each direction are planned from Monday to Thursday, 15 trips on Friday, 13 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday,” he specified, clarifying that the operator may adjust these connections if demand for river transport intensifies.
The trips will end at 8 p.m. from Monday to Thursday. From Friday to Sunday, the last boat will leave the pier at 10 p.m.
Each trip “lasts about seven minutes, whereas by car, on a day without traffic, it takes between 20 and 30 minutes and by public transport about 50 minutes,” he pointed out.
The president of TMP said that launching this pilot project on the eve of the São Pedro da Afurada festivities (taking place on Saturday night and Sunday) was “a race”, given that the municipalities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia returned this competence to the Porto Metropolitan Area on 29 May.
This connection, which will be available until the end of October for now, will also serve to carry out “a real study of demand”.
TMP wants to understand the potential flow of this connection, both with residents of the two cities and with tourists, to later “launch a tender” for this river crossing.
Passengers can use the Andante pass (metropolitan and municipal) and the Andante Z2, or they can buy tickets on board for €2.25.
On 30 May, during a presentation at a Metropolitan Council meeting, Marco Martins confirmed that “the tender for the service will be announced later”. They added that the aim was to connect the two banks of the river “before São Pedro da Afurada”.
On that occasion, the president of TMP stressed that, after the pilot project, the study “will indicate the possible demand, economic viability and other locations” in Gaia, Porto and Gondomar.
At issue is “the connection between Ribeira do Porto and Cais de Gaia” and “further upstream a connection between Gramido and Avintes”, and then “a possible connection that could come at least from the Gramido area, pass through Freixo, touch Oliveira do Douro and then connect to Ribeira do Porto and Gaia”.
“But this will be for 2026, after this study,” said the official.
Authorities suspended the crossing between Cais do Ouro and Afurada, operated by the Flor do Gás vessel, in 2020, and they resumed it in the summer of 2022 on an exceptional basis during the São Pedro festivities and the Marés Vivas Festival.
JAP/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
