Carris launched a special bus route for the Web Summit but information at the stops is scarce. Therefore, Diogo Lourenço, author of the page Autocarros de Lisboa (Lisbon Buses), decided to get down to business.
Internally, it is the career 88C. Officially, it is the shuttle of the Web Summitcreated specifically for the event, connecting Oriente station to Praça do Comércio (and vice-versa), but available to anyone. Despite being special, this Carris line has a normal fare, zapping works and it is also possible to use the Navegante pass.
The 88C route is only available during the days of the Web Summit, i.e. from November 1st to 4th, and runs similar to the regular 728 route.: it starts near the Gare do Oriente, at a stop pop-upand follows along the waterfront through the stops of the 728. For example, in the southern part of Alameda dos Oceanosin Silver Armin Bishop's Wellin Beato Creative Hubin Santa Apolónia and in the Terreiro do Paço river terminal. While the 728 goes to Belém, this 88C is at Praça do Comércio. Naturally, it is possible to travel from Oriente to Praça do Comércio, but also from Praça do Comércio to Oriente. With frequencies of 22.5 minutes, between 8 am and 9 pm, approximately, The 88C is, in essence, an enhancement to the 728 - it was created for the Web Summit, but at the same time serves the everyday life of the city.
The creation of this career - special and temporary - did not go unnoticed by Diogo Lourenço, 21 years old, marketing student, and author of the page Buses from Lisbon (Facebook/Instagram). As usual, Diogo made a post on his page about 88Ccomplementing the information made available by Carris on official channels. He described in detail the new career, designed a plaque for it, and created a map so that people can better understand the route - A visual element is important especially for those who come from abroad and don't know the city, but also for locals who are not so comfortable with the bus network.
Since this information can also be useful offline, Diogo decided to make and print the maps in A3 format and, on Wednesday night, he posted them at the main stops of the 88C. Printing alone cost 30-40 euros, but this does not include all the time and effort invested in the design of the materials and the logistics of posting them - a process in which he had the help of the citizenship association Neighbors in Lisbon.
For Diogo, communication is an Achilles heel of Carris, and this is the opportunity that the 21-year-old takes to explore on the page Buses from Lisbonin a voluntary and uncompromising way. His interest and passion for the city's buses started when he was a little boy, when he met some of his friends and family who were bus drivers and other people connected to Carris. He started collaborating with the community Buses from Lisbon when he discovered it, but in 2017 he took it over after its previous administrator became less available. "I started to collaborate, I was gaining more autonomy" and, little by little, changed a page that served mainly to share pictures of buses to an alternative information platform - or complementary - to the Carris channels.
"From the enthusiastic vein I have, I went looking for the problems I saw as a Carris passenger and for solutions, and the biggest problem I found was at the communication level"explains to Lisboa Para Pessoas. "The page is above all informative"He adds that it will exist as long as he has the will and time to make it more dynamic. With more than three thousand followers, and keeping a neutral editorial line, Diogo bets on creating maps, diagrams and other visual elements to complement the written information about new stops, altered bus routes and other changes to Carris' normal service. "There are Carris drivers who have told me that when they look at the work orders they don't always understand the changes, but they have figured them out with my maps and publications."
Diogo mixes these more informative publications with more relational content, such as pictures of old buses and trivia about old routes. You pay for Adobe Illustrator every month (they are "about 20 euros/month"to create the content for his site and takes his camera with him on a daily basis to feed the photo archive that is published on his site - and that it also lends to Carris itself, in exchange for some institutional support.
Regarding the 88C, although it is a special and temporary line due to the Web Summit, it is only identified on the ground at the terminal stops - Praça do Comércio and Gare do Oriente. In none of them there is, however, a map that allows people to quickly visualize the route and the different intermediate stops, nor to know more information about the service of shuttle - How does it work, what are the schedules, what fares are available. In the poster that Diogo designed he put all these details and also a QR code so that anyone with a cell phone can scan and learn more on Carris' official website - After all, we are at a technology event.
Diogo and Neighbors in Lisbon have put up posters at the main stops where the 88C passes and where you can also board this shuttle, including Santa Apolónia, the Beato Creative Hub, and Braço de Prata.
