About 820 lines, 2000 routes and 12,000 stops. More than 90 night lines and more offer at the weekend. These are just a few numbers from Carris Metropolitana, which arrives between June and July.
Starting this summer, the buses in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) will all have the same color and the same Carris Metropolitana brand, will be connected by the same ticketing system - the Navegante, and will circulate within a single and integrated network. Carris Metropolitana's operation will be divided in four lots; each one will be given to a private company under a concession regime. Only Lisbon, Cascais and Barreiro will be left out of Carris Metropolitana because their bus operators are municipalized, but there will be inter-municipal lines connecting these and neighboring municipalities.
In the remaining 15 municipalities of AML, Carris Metropolitana will be the only bus operator present, and the brands existing today will disappear. This means that, for example, Vimeca, Transportes Sul do Tejo (TST), Rodoviária de Lisboa (RL) or Sulfertagus will cease to exist; some of these companies will start operating Carris Metropolitana under a concession regime, since they won the tenders that were launched. This is the case of RL, which will be in charge of Lot 2, for the municipalities of Mafra, Loures, Odivelas and Vila Franca de Xira; and of TST, which will be in charge of Lot 3, for the municipalities of Almada, Seixal and Sesimbra.
| Counties | Operator |
|---|---|
| Lot 1 Amadora, Oeiras and Sintra (+ Lisbon and Cascais) | Viação Alvorada |
| Lot 2 Mafra, Loures, Odivelas and Vila Franca de Xira | Lisbon Bus Station |
| Lot 3 Almada, Seixal and Sesimbra | Transportes Sul do Tejo |
| Lot 4 Alcochete, Moita, Montijo, Palmela and Setúbal (+ Barreiro) | Alsa Todi |
Carris Metropolitana will start operating in a phased mannerThe five municipalities on the South Bank (Alcochete, Moita, Montijo, Palmela and Setúbal) will have the yellow buses as of June 1st, as a kind of pilot to fine tune the last details; the other 10 municipalities will have the Carris Metropolitana as of July 1st, as we told here.
What will change, in numbers?
Carris Metropolitana will represent a significant change in metropolitan mobility in Lisbon. At the presentation event of Carris Metropolitana that took place last Friday, April 1st, more details about the future operation were revealed:
- will consist of about 820 bus lines, of which 350 already exist and will be reinforced, and 160 will be new lines. In total, there will be more than 2000 courses;
- will have at your service 1600 buses, of which 1400 will be new or less than one year old. The fleet will be equipped with free wi-fi for passengers and with USB ports for charging electronic devices;
- will have more than 12 thousand stops, of which about one thousand will be new. There will be about 370 digital panels of information to the public at the main stops;
- will have more than 90 night lines and more weekend offer.
The Metropolitan Carris is expected to make more than six million runs per year, and it has not been revealed how many cars it will be able to take off the road. But the AML bus network will serve approximately 2.8 million potential users1.2 billion, which will increase the current service by about 35%.
As mentioned, the Metropolitan Carris operation will be divided into four lots, that is, four zones. Details about each lot have been revealed:
Lot 1 - Amadora, Oeiras and Sintra (+ Lisbon and Cascais)
- there will be 192 linesof which 41 are new lines and 83 are lines that already exist but will be reinforced, totaling more than 480 paths;
- are planned in this area more than 1.9 million circulations/yearThis corresponds to 160 thousand circulations/month and 6 thousand/day;
- operation from 4:30 am and 1:59 am;
- fleet consisting of more than 460 buses, of which 410 will be new. There will be 9 different bus models circulating in this lot;
- there will be more than 4000 stops e 110 digital panels of public information.
Lot 2 - Mafra, Loures, Odivelas and Vila Franca de Xira
- there will be 327 linesof which 41 are new lines and 134 are lines that already exist but will be reinforced, totaling more than 830 routes;
- are planned in this area more than 1.7 million circulations/yearThis corresponds to 145 thousand circulations/month and 5 thousand/day;
- operation from 4:00 a.m. to 1:59 a.m.;
- fleet consisting of more than 520 buses, of which 460 will be new. There will be 16 different bus models circulating in this lot;
- there will be more than 4000 stops e 90 digital panels of public information.
Lot 3 - Almada, Seixal and Sesimbra
- there will be 149 linesof which 50 are new lines and 56 are lines that already exist but will be reinforced, totaling more than 310 paths;
- are planned in this area more than 1.4 million circulations/yearThis corresponds to 120 thousand circulations/month and 4 thousand/day;
- operation 24 hours;
- fleet consisting of more than 330 buses, of which 290 will be new. There will be 11 different bus models circulating in this lot;
- there will be more than 2000 stops e 50 digital panels of public information.
Lot 4 - Alcochete, Moita, Montijo, Palmela and Setúbal (+ Barreiro)
- there will be 154 linesof which 30 are new lines and 74 are lines that already exist but will be reinforced, totaling more than 360 routes;
- are planned in this area more than 750 thousand circulations/yearThis corresponds to 65 thousand circulations/month and 2 thousand/day;
- operation from 4:30 a.m. to 1:59 a.m.;
- fleet consisting of more than 230 buses, all new. There will be 6 different bus models circulating in this lot;
- there will be more than 2000 stops e 63 digital panels of public information.
The Metropolitan Carris will be the same for the passenger in any AML municipality (excluding Lisbon, Cascais and Barreiro because they will keep the municipal operators), regardless of the private operator that is providing the service in that lot. The same rules, the same tariff, uniform schedules, and a network map thought out together.
A single brand, for everything
Although Carris Metropolitana's operation in each zone (or lot) is under concession, the central management will be in charge of Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML), a company owned 100% by AML and which is also responsible for the ticketing system - Navegante. It is with the Navegante that Carris Metropolitana will "talk" to the other transport operators in the city (such as Metro, TTSL or Carris that we already know), as you can read here.
With Carris Metropolitana, there will be a single entity with which passengers will have to deal, since all customer relations will be centralized in the Navegante brand. There will be 26 Navegante Spaces spread throughout the AML: three in Loures and Sintra, two in Almada, Amadora, Odivelas, Oeiras, Seixal, Setúbal, and Vila Franca de Xira, and one each in Alcochete, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Palmela, and Sesimbra. These Spaces will allow:
- To transmit information about the transport service provided by Carris Metropolitana.
- Ensure the sales service and loading of tickets/passes and respective cards.
- Ensure the after-sales service of tickets/passes and respective support cards, namely exchange and returns of tickets/passes, analysis and resolution of card malfunctions, recovery and cancellation of cards, and updating cardholder data.
- Provide support on lost and found objects.
- Forward suggestions and complaints.
The 26 Navegante Spaces will be assisted by more than 1750 small Navegante points of sale spread throughout the 18 municipalities of AMLby the future portal Navegante (which will replace the old Portal Viva) and by future mobile application. With the Navegante system, it will still be possible this year to use a physical card, a cell phone or even a bank card to use public transportation in the Lisbon region, including Carris Metropolitana. The Navegante and Zapping passes will work with the Carris Metropolitana, which will also have an on-board fare and the possibility to pre-buy tickets. Details about fares are not yet known, but they should be in line with the values currently practiced.
Carris Metropolitana will soon have a site available at carrismetropolitana.pt where it will be possible to learn all the details of the operation, including the lines and fare pricing. At Lisboa Para Pessoas we will keep an eye out for future news.
