Coimbra, Portugal, Aug. 27, 2025 (Lusa) - The Mondego Mobility System (SMM) will start operating from Friday, in a first phase limited to a five-kilometre route in the city of Coimbra, free of charge, the government announced on Wednesday.
The SMM, a system of articulated electric buses operating on a dedicated route, will begin with a free preliminary operation between Portagem and Vale das Flores in the city of Coimbra, according to a press release from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing (MIH), sent to the Lusa news agency.
The route, which is around five kilometres long and covers ten stations in the city, will be free of charge until the section to Serpins, in the municipality of Lousã, is opened, "scheduled for the end of the year", the ministry explained, without giving a specific date for the operation of the route, which also passes through the municipality of Miranda do Corvo.
The start-up follows several free demonstrations in the three municipalities covered by the SMM, which were organised this month by Metro Mondego, the entity that provides the service.
According to a press release also sent out today by Metro Mondego, the operation on Friday starts at 10:00 and lasts until 18:00.
From Saturday onwards and until full commercial operation until Serpins is up and running, operations on the urban section between Portagem and Vale das Flores will run daily between 08:00 and 20:00, including weekends.
The journeys will take place at the same time as "large-scale tests are being carried out on the vehicles, infrastructure, technical systems, operation management and passenger experience", to correct "any faults before commercial operation", explained Metro Mondego.
Not only is the service between Portagem and Serpins expected to be up and running by the end of the year, but by 2026 the operation between Portagem and Coimbra-B is expected to be up and running, as well as the hospital line in the city centre, a project with several sections still to be completed.
The service now provided only covers five of the total 42 kilometres of the network, which includes 42 stations.
The start of the operation, which the ministry calls "Metro do Mondego", "responds to an old aspiration of the people of that region in the centre of the country", the government pointed out.
The project involved the closure of the Lousã railway branch and has seen various delays, alterations and suspensions over more than 30 years, having been halted after the tracks were removed in 2010.
The SMM, which was planned to be a light surface metro, was taken over in 2017 by the government led by António Costa, who reformulated the project, keeping the same route and replacing the metro with articulated electric buses.
For the ministry, the system "fosters urban cohesion between these municipalities, promoting local development and combating mobility poverty", creating "an efficient and complementary transport network based on interoperability with other transport operators".
According to the ministry, the SMM represents an investment of €220 million.
"For decades, the inhabitants of the Coimbra region have waited, and despaired, for the day when the Mondego Metro would finally come into operation. When it comes to meeting their needs, citizens can't understand these delays and indecisions, nor can they understand their political motivation," emphasised the minister for infrastructure and housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, quoted in the press release.
According to Metro Mondego, the minister is expected to be present on Friday at the start of the preliminary operation.
The SMM expects to have 13 million passengers a year and an interval between buses of five minutes at peak times.
JGA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
