As of this Friday, the Carnide Metro station, the Ribeira das Naus and Marina Docks stations, one more near Sete Rios, another in Benfica and one in Lumiar are available. The stations already installed in Belém are still out.
EMEL opened, this Friday, six new GIRA stations in various points of the city, including station 513 that serves the Carnide subway and a sparse area in bus services. With this station, it will now be possible to quickly get from the northern part of Telheiras to the subway system, but this station will also serve the Pontinha bus terminal and all those who use the bus to circulate in the metropolitan area.
This Friday, they also opened the station at Ribeira das Naus and that of Marina Dockanother one near the transport interface of Seven Riversone in Benfica next to the cyclopedestrian bridge that connects Monsanto and the missing station in the residential area of Parque dos Príncipes, in Lumiar. The complete list of new stations is as follows:
- 209 - Ribeira das Naus (with 40 docks)
- 211 - Navy Dock (with 27 docks)
- 437 - Av. Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro/Rua de Campolide (with 17 docks)
- 506 - Rua Tenente-Coronel Ribeiro dos Reis/Rua Conde de Almoster (with 17 docks)
- 513 - Rua Guiomar Torresão/Metro de Carnide (with 20 docks)
- 516 - Rua Prof. Carlos Teixeira/Rua Prof. Simões Raposo (with 16 docks)
The four stations installed in Belém remain outside and that would serve not only the residents of this parish, mainly those who live in Restelo and are far from the Cascais Line railway, but also all those who arrive in Lisbon through Algés and who would have a bike sharing station there. The Junta de Freguesia de Belém contested the location of these stations, for occupying parking spaces, and managed to negotiate with the City and EMEL new locations in pedestrian zones.
There are now 146 active GIRA stations in the city, in a total of 2873 parking docks. Currently "GIRAm" in the city of Lisbon about 1600 bicycles from the public bike sharing network, the vast majority electric. The municipal company and the Lisbon City Hall plan to expand the shared bike system at a rate of 20 new stations per year. However, until the end of this 2023, 23 more stations are planned.
The opening of the six stations was marked this Friday morning, in Lumiar, at station 516. The presence of the Mayor, Carlos Moedas, the Vice-president and Vereador of Mobility, Filipe Anacoreta Correia, the Vereador of Environment, Ângelo Pereira, the Municipal Director of Mobility, Ana Raimundo, and also the President of EMEL, Carlos Silva, were present. The small ceremony also served to mark the integration of the Navegante into GIRAwhich also became available this weekend.
Integration with Navegante now available
The long-awaited integration with the Navegante pass is already available on the GIRA app for all people living in Lisbon and who are either students up to 23/24 years old, or over 65 years old - that is, who already benefit from the free Municipal Navigator Pass.
To activate the Navegante pass at GIRA and benefit from the free bike sharing service, just go to the "Passes" section in the GIRA app and subscribe to the "GIRA Navegante" pass. Current annual pass holders cannot request a refund to exchange it for the free mode, so you will have to wait until the validity of the current pass expires. More details can be viewed here.
In turn, the Lisbon tax residents who do not have a free public transportation pass will also be able to benefit from GIRA at zero cost - In other words, GIRA will be free even for all people who have tax domicile in the municipality of Lisbon. As of June 5th, these groups will be able to request a free GIRA pass at one of EMEL's service points (Laranjeiras, Saldanha or Campo Grande). You will receive a voucher with a code that they will have to enter later in the application. This solution is temporary, until it is possible for any GIRA user, of any age, living in Lisbon, to join for free through the app. More details here.
| Condition | Free GIRA access |
|---|---|
| Lisbon tax residents with free Municipal Pass (students up to 23/24 years old and over 65 years old) | Activation in the GIRA app ("Passes" section) starting this Friday, May 26. |
| Tax residents in Lisbon, with a Municipal or Metro "Navegante" pass not freeincluding: - non-student youth - people who could have the free Municipal Pass but prefer to subscribe to the Metropolitan Pass - everyone between the ages of 24 and 64 | From June 5: request in person at one of EMEL's service points (Laranjeiras, Saldanha or Campo Grande). In the future: activation on GIRA's app. |
| Residents under 16 | They cannot access GIRA under the current terms and conditions. |
| Non residents for tax purposes in Lisbon | It is not possible to access the free GIRA, but all the usual passes (annual, monthly, and daily) are available. |
The free GIRA for holders of the Navegante Pass was an idea that has come a long way until it is implemented now. The discussion started in March 2019, by the then Councilman of Mobility, Miguel Gaspar (PS), and the measure was even foreseen several times for 2021, not having been materialized. The PCP even proposed, in 2020, that the GIRA should be accessible to all residents with a plafond monthly number of minutes of use. The BE approved in February 2022, in a City Council meeting, a proposal to implement a free pass for all holders of a "Navegante" pass, regardless of age and the type of pass (Municipal or Metropolitan).
Since the launch of Lisbon's public bike-sharing network in 2017, GIRA has made almost 9 million trips. In 2022 there were a record 2.6 million trips made, more than double the previous year. This year, GIRA is preparing to exceed all the marks registered so far: in the first five months of 2023 almost 1.5 million trips have already been made, and last May 3rd the number of 12,500 trips in a single day was exceeded for the first time.
Updated at 11:10 pm on 05/26/2023: added more details about the free pass.
