By bike or bus, Lisbon is ready for the return to school

Lisbon is ready for the return to school. The new school year sees the return of two municipal school mobility programs that promise to instill new habits in the capital's children and young people. The Bicycle Trains and the project Yellow allow kindergarten, primary and secondary school pupils from various schools in the city to go to class by bus or bicycle, accompanied by adult monitors.

For the first time, the Bicycle Trains will start at the beginning of the school year. Registration is already open for the 24 schools that usually take part in this program, and there are seven schools that are being evaluated/piloted. The Bicycle Trains enable children and young people from the 1st and 2nd Cycles to travel to lessons by bicycle, in groups and accompanied by experienced instructors. Just like a normal "train", it has a line/route and set timetables.

This program - developed between the Lisbon City Council and the Bicicultura cooperative - aims to raise awareness and promote the adoption of active mobility habits when commuting to school, training children to use bicycles in a utilitarian and autonomous way in the city. Participation is free with compulsory registration, which can already be done through the municipality's website (registration is open throughout the school year).

At the same time, the Lisbon City Council will be promoting bicycle workshops open to the school communitywhere parents, students, teachers and staff can learn about and solve common problems (such as leaks). These workshops will be held in the following schools: EB1 Paulino Montez (Olivais), EB 1 Bairro de São Miguel (Alvalade), EB2,3 de Telheiras (Lumiar), EB1 Raúl Lino (Alcântara), EB São Vicente (Lumiar) and EB2,3 Paula Vicente (Belém). And there will be free urban cycling lessons at EB2,3 Paula Vicente; registration can be done here. More information here.

From Carris to school

For its part, the Yellow aims to promote the use of Carris buses for journeys to school. Developed by Lisbon City Council and Carris, this project allows fathers and mothers to have monitors on board the buses that take their children to school. Yellow is available on some Carris Neighborhood Buses, at entry times. Parents just have to leave their children at the stop near their home at the time the bus is due to leave.

In the 2022/23 school year, three bus routes operated and covered nine schools in the parishes of Benfica and Olivais, with 50 students enrolled. In the 2023/24 school year, the program was extended to the parishes of Estrela, Parque das Nações and Santa Clara, involving a total of 16 schools and five Carreiras de Bairro (70B, 67B, 29B, 26B and 40B). Registration for the program is free and can be done here.

Any questions about the Bicycle Trains or the Yellow Train can be answered by contacting the Lisbon City Council's school mobility team at mobilidadeescolar@cm-lisboa.pt.

School buses

Meanwhile, and on the sidelines of ongoing municipal programs, the Lisbon City Council approved a new contract for the school transport service for the 2023/2024 school year. This will ensure that around 700 kindergarten children, as well as primary and secondary school students from Lisbon's public schools, can travel to classes and extra-curricular activities.

The transport will be much more than the typical home-to-school transport, as it will also ensure travel to physical education classes at schools without a sports hall (EB Luís de Camões and EB Parque das Nações), to the Escola Ciência Viva weeks, to the curricular swimming support program and also to trips under the School Passport.

With the approval of this new contract, in anticipation of the increase in the number of pupils in some of the schools, the council has reinforced the supply with three more buses, increasing the number of vehicles that will circulate daily to a total of 26. The increase of three buses will also benefit transport to the physical education classes held in the Lóios and Casal Vistoso Pavilions and guarantee the daily transport of three classes to the Pavilion of Knowledge, as part of the Ciência Viva Program.

The contract was awarded through an international public tender, for 380,500 euros plus VAT, to the company Barraqueiro, and will be valid until June 2024, and may be renewed if this is in the interests of the municipality. The proposal was approved by a majority at the town hall meeting, with the Left Bloc abstaining.