Living in Portugal - Transport

Urban Public Transport is available in almost cities, being operated either by public companies (Lisbon and Porto), private companies or companies belonging to the municipalities. In all cases the transport operator is subject to public service obligations.

The system allows different types of ticketing systems: the single ticket (available inside the transport), a set of pre-tickets different tickets (1 day, 3 days) available in the public posts and also monthly cards. This last option is available for one company or for the combination of several companies (e.g. bus and train or train and metro).

The main transport operators are:

• CP – Railways Company that operates both at national level and in the Metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Por

• CARRIS – Bus /Tram company in Lisbon
• STCP – Bus company in Porto
• TRANSTEJO – Ferry operator in Lisbon and South Edge of Lisbon
• Metropolitano de Lisboa – Underground operator in Lisbon
• Metro do Porto – Light Metro System of the Porto Metropolitan Area

For those who intend to live in the big cities like Lisbon and Porto and their metropolitan areas, public transport is the best choice, once the parking space is being restricted and the central areas have few free spaces for parking. Besides this problem, the traffic jams to access the city are a major factor to discourage the use of private cars for daily trips.

Text last edited on: 01/07/2003

Source: European Union
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