On the anniversary of the intermodal pass that united the Lisbon metropolitan area, a balance was made of the last five years, current difficulties were discussed and the next steps to be taken were outlined.
On April 1, 2019, there was a single transport pass in the Lisbon metropolitan area (amL), allowing travel on all operators and throughout the territory. From Mafra to Setúbal, from Cascais to Vila Franca de Xira, from Almada to Alcochete, it's with the Navigator to travel by bus, train, metro, boat... and even on GIRA bicycles. Five years on, there are more than 800,000 passes loaded onto amL every month. And Navegante has become more than just a fare and a card. It has become synonymous with the entire technological ticketing system that supports the various transport companies, and also the name of a series of products and services aimed at passengers, from the online information portal to the face-to-face service desks, including the future app.
On the Navegante's fifth anniversary, TML, the company responsible for the Navegante, decided to bringing together political decision-makers, operators and other players with a role in Lisbon's metropolitan mobilityThe two-day event was open to the general public for the first time. The Navegante Days took place at the Palácio de Queluz, in Sintra, and began with the presentation of a series of numbers from the NavigatorFaustino Gomes, Chairman of TML's Board of Directors. "Navegante is more than a card. It's a product, it's a logic, it's a way of serving people."
Metropolitan Pass represents 65%, Municipal only 10%
But referring to the most well-known part of Navegante, the card, Faustino began by recalling the complexity of the ticketing system in 2018, before Navegante, when there were more than seven thousand passes, 87% of which cost more than €40 per month, and when only 30% of Lisbon's metropolitan territory was covered by the intermodal pass at the time, the L123.
Today, the passes Navigator reach the entire Lisbon metropolitan area (amL) and represent 95% of the passes loaded in amL (o Navigator replaced most of the seven thousand pre-existing passes, including the L123Only passes that cost less than the new offer were kept). "In the past, there were passes that were linked to certain routes and if people wanted more mobility, they had to pay more"said the administrator, noting that the tariff Navigator has not been increased since its launch. But, he pointed out, "Navegante is much more important than the cost: we have come to treat the territory in an equal and integrated way."
The launch of Navigator in 2019 resulted, in the first year, in an increase of 20% in the number of passes loaded, which went from less than seven million in 2018 to around eight million. The pandemic had a negative impact on demand, and it wasn't until 2022 that there was a recovery. "In 2022, we recovered the 2019 figures. We immediately had a growth compared to 2021 of more than 29%. And the figures for 2023 continued this upward trend"explained the President of TML. Last year, pass shipments exceeded nine million and, for the first time, are approaching the 10 million mark. This means an increase of 42% compared to 2018, the last year without Navigatorand 17% compared to 2022. It was also in 2023 that the month with the most shipments ever was recorded: November, with 841 thousand Navigators loaded.
The pass Metropolitan Navigator (40 €/month) is the best-selling of all available types, accounting for 65% of all 810,000 shipments in February 2024typology Municipal (30 €/month), which gives access to the entire transport network of a municipality of your choice, represents only 10%, and it is in Lisbon where this pass is most popular. 77% of all passes Municipalities This is perhaps the result of the capital's attractiveness in terms of employment, services, commerce and culture and the consequent one-way flow of passengers.
But there could be another reason: "This is also very much the result of Lisbon's free policy, which has led people to stay within the municipality"said Faustino, revealing that initially it was thought of launching only the metropolitan mode of the Navigator - in other words, a single pass for the whole of AmL. "The Navegante Metropolitano already accounts for 65% of all passes. We tend to move towards the logic of a pass that serves the whole region and not a pass that serves only a few municipalities"explained Faustino Gomes. "The Navegante Metropolitano is the pass that people really need for their mobility."
The Chairman of TML's Board of Directors stressed that the shipments now tend to be more constant throughout the year, with the exception of the months of July and August, which continue to represent drops. But, "In the past, we had more peaks depending on whether there were more classes or fewer classes in a month. Now people prefer to buy the pass even in the months when they're going to use it less"he commented. Looking at the discounts, the over-65s and former combatants, "which in practice are also metropolitan passes"account for 17% of shipments, and families only 3%. "Family passes have never been very popular and now that young people are free, they should decrease"he predicts. O Navegante Family allows households of any size to pay for a maximum of two passes Navigator per month, either in the form of Municipal (maximum expenditure of 60 €/month), either in the Metropolitan (maximum expenditure of 80 €/month).
What's next
As for the future, Faustino Gomes has no doubt that "there are new titles that need to be created" because there is demand in some passenger segments for which answers have not yet been developed. "It's essential that we create multimodal titles for daily use or sets of days"where "we'll have to see if these titles can be for consecutive or interspersed days". For these "new approaches" studies need to be carried out, particularly to understand new behaviors, such as the "demands associated with teleworking".
The President of TML also stressed the importance of "more and better information in real time" so that "the passenger can follow their entire journey". "Each of the operators has information and some of us already have quality real-time information, but it's turned inwards, towards us. But the passengers we want to serve aren't from Carris, Carris Metropolitana, Fertagus or Transtejo. And that's why the information has to belong to everyone, it has to be multimodal"he said, referring to the fact that some transport companies keep real-time timetables in their apps but don't make this data available in an open, multi-platform way.
Faustino Gomes also mentioned the dematerialization of processes, cards and services, giving as examples the launch of the Navegante app for cell phones - which will allow passes to be topped up "as early as April, if not May" and in the future replace the physical card -, the introduction of other forms of validation such as the use of bank cards (Carris Metropolitana will have a pilot this year and Carris expects to launch this possibility by the summer, followed by Fertagus and Metro de Lisboa), and projects such as the 1bilhete.co.ukThe Mobility and Transport Institute (IMT) is responsible for this.
"When we build these tools, we build them not only for use by TML and Carris Metropolitana, but so that all the operators of the Lisbon metropolitan area transport system can use them"Faustino pointed out that even if some operators are more advanced than others in developing digital solutions, it's important to remember that "in the end we work for the same people" and that it is essential "leaving bridges so that systems are interoperable and so that people can see a single image". Another central aspect of Navegante's future is the connection to new modes of mobility, such as flexible transportation (buses on demand) and cycling, as has already happened with GIRA in Lisbon.
For his part, Carlos Humberto Delgado, First Secretary of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML), the entity that oversees the TML, "Navegante is still an incomplete measure" and there are still a number of challenges, many of which transcend metropolitan powers and depend on the municipalities and the government. For the official, it is essential to strengthen heavy public transport, public transport offers on dedicated routes (such as the MTS or the future Violet Line of the Metro) and BUS corridors, but also to improve the transport interfaces and "moving towards a unique image of passenger shelters" at bus stops. He called for river transport to be brought under the remit of AML and TML and issued a warning: "single measures should be avoided".
Navegante was a challenge for Fertagus
The first day of the Navegante Days ended with a debate that brought together the managements of Carris, Fertagus and TTSL, and which served to take stock of the first five years of the Navigator and present prospects for the future. "When the idea of including Fertagus in the Navegante pass came up, we were a little shocked"said Cristina Dourado, from Fertagusexplaining that the rail carrier had opted out of the previous L123 for not being financially sustainable. "When we responded to the [concession] tender, we didn't integrate the intermodal pass not because we didn't want to, but because, at the time, the intermodal pass had funding problems and no operator wanted to hear about yet another operator joining the pass and receiving a little something"she explained. "That's why we had to create alternative passes"combining Fertagus with the other transport networks. "We had to create a pass with Carris, a pass with Metro, one with Carris plus Metro, a pass with Sulfertagus, a pass with TST... A pass with everyone and then all of them combined. The operators asked for the price they wanted to add to the Fertagus pass and the passes were then a sum that each operator wanted for their network. They were values that they thought were reasonable.“
But for Fertagus, the most important combined pass was the one they had with the Metro, because "most people from the South Bank wanted to use the Metro in Lisbon, so we created a competitive pass with intermodal and the rest was whatever we could get". In 2018, the combined Fertagus+Metro pass cost 54 euros from Pragal station to Lisbon, and 149 euros from Setúbal to the capital. Cristina points out that "When Navegante arrived, we already had a completely saturated peak period, but before that, with our passes, we were able to manage the capacity we had with the price because the price serves to condition demand".
O Navigator has led to changes in behavior: more passengers, more traffic in stations and more demand outside peak hours. If before the Navigator Fertagus' 61,000 passengers a day on the bridge crossing rose to 81,000 in November 2019, an increase of 33%. "This is at the bridge crossing, which is where we were measuring"he added. Between November 2019 and the same month in 2023, growth was 9%. "Today we are above 2019 and we have grown by a total of 44% in the movement of people going inside the train, crossing the bridge"he added. Between 2019 and 2023, station traffic also increased - 64% on the whole line, which connects Lisbon to Setúbal. The Pragal and Corroios stations, "which are the closest to Lisbon and the most loaded"Foros da Amora 71%, Fogueteiro 73%, Coina and Penalva 93%, Venda do Alcaide and Palmela 150% and Setúbal 110%. "So demand is growing as we move further away from Lisbon." Fertagus says it is studying new timetables to respond to new challenges, such as 18 in 18 minutes on some timetables, and also responses for the weekend, where demand grew by 120%. On weekdays, outside peak hours, demand grew by 92% and "at night, after 8:30 p.m., it increased by 200%". The data refers to the crossing of the bridge, which is where Fertagus monitors the movement of passengers inside the trains.
Looking at the Pragal-Lisbon direction, the morning bridge time in Pragal was previously at Navigator from 8 to 9 and moved to 7 to 8. "From 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m., we grew by 36%. From 5:30 to 6:30, 133%"He added that from 8 to 9 the increase was only 15%. During the afternoon rush hour, the difference was 34%. In the opposite direction, Lisbon-Pragal, demand from 5.30am to 7.30am increased. "quadrupled"he said, adding that "there aren't many people, but there is a lot of traffic on the first trains in the morning". "The afternoon peak period grew by 34%. And off-peak 80%"she added. To Cristina Dourado, "it was unthinkable for us to be left out of Navegante, our customers wouldn't understand if we didn't take that step". The administrator explained that the Navigator forced Fertagus to make some changes, such as removing 88 seats from each train to make it easier to get on and off (he said that, at first, there were delays due to the accumulation of passengers), putting extra drivers at the terminal stations to make it easier to change shifts, and also a "investment in maintenance so we don't have trains at a standstill". This investment has also included "replacing obsolete train technology so we don't have to wait so long for parts". On the other hand, "We've already managed to increase our trains on the bangs, outside rush hour, in the morning and afternoon. We can't do anything else"he said, asking the state for more trains for the operation.
The administrator of Fertagus said she had the perception that "in terms of quality of service, we're not providing the same quality of service as in the past"but that "our customers don't think so"She also mentioned the satisfaction surveys carried out with positive scores for Fertagus. For Cristina Dourado, the hiring of train drivers and other human resources "because people like trains and, in terms of remuneration, Fertagus pays a little more than other operators". The bus companies of the Barraqueiro Group, which includes Fertagus, such as TST, Viação Alvorada and Rodoviária de Lisboa, which provide three of the four operating areas of Carris Metropolitana, have had a harder time.
Carris Metropolitana, through its operators, was forced to turn to foreign markets, such as Brazil or Cape Verde, to fill urgent shortages of drivers at the start of operations. In Lisbon, Carris didn't feel the need for the same strategy, having launched a bonus campaign for candidates who refer another candidate who also wants to work for the company. "Money remains an important stimulus"Pedro Bogas acknowledged that the campaign was successful and allowed Carris to hire the 110 new crew members it wanted in 2023. "We resolved the situation last year"Bogas concluded. "It's become more difficult to recruit nationally, but we haven't had to recruit abroad yet."
TTSL has been less fortunate, as its payroll depends on government decisions as well as public tables. The river transport company is having trouble hiring "not so much sailors, who after a few years manage to become masters"but machinists, which is a "very specific career". "Transtejo had special authorization in 2022 to hire 11 train drivers, but we haven't been able to find those people to this day"explained Alexandra Ferreira de Carvalho. The explanation from TTSL's current administrator is clear: on the one hand, "the private leisure companies that operate on the Tagus have more advantageous remuneration conditions than those Transtejo offers"on the other hand, "there is a lot of demand and little supply in this market".
Alexandra also admitted difficulties in hiring senior technicians and "new people for maintenance". "We're hiring electromechanics because of the new electric fleet, and we're not getting them"reiterating the same cause: "we need to make the sector more attractive and this includes pay conditions". Despite the difficulties, TTSL foresees "in the first semester, in May/June" have all-electric operation on the Seixal link, using the three vessels of the new fleet it has already received, including the White Stork. For his part, Pedro Bogas, from Carris, recalled the projects already announced by the operator and the Lisbon City Councilin particular streetcar 15 extensionon one side to Jamor, in Oeiras, and on the other to Santa Apolónia, in a first phase, and to Parque Tejo, in a later phase; and the streetcar project in Lisbon's Upper Town. He also mentioned the investment in renewing the bus fleet, which is important for giving passengers a good experience and building loyalty to public transport.
On the second day of the Navegante DaysAt the end of the event, we talked about the new role of Metropolitan Areas and Intermunicipal Communities in mobility, the challenge of public transport on its own site, infrastructure planning and future trends and challenges.
