There is less than a month to go before Carris Metropolitana starts operating on the North Shore. The new brand is arriving in the municipalities of Mafra, Loures, Odivelas, Vila Franca de Xira, Amadora, Oeiras and Sintra.
A large part of the buses that circulate in the North Bank already have the yellow color on the exterior and the iconic "CM" of Carris Metropolitana on the seats. They still show the name of the current operator, but on January 1st 2023 everything will change. On that Sunday, the first day of the year, it will all be Carris Metropolitana, as the new brand of public transport on the North Bank of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) comes into operation.
This will mean the end of all old lines and the beginning of new lines, new numbering and new timetables. On the North Shore, the operation on the ground will be under concession to private companies Lisbon Bus Station e Viação Alvorada (which is the result of Vimeca), with public management of the service - is the responsibility of Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML), a company owned and financed by the 18 municipalities that make up AML. Rodoviária de Lisboa will operate in Area 2 (Mafra, Loures, Odivelas and Vila Franca de Xira) and Viação Alvorada in Area 1 (Amadora, Oeiras and Sintra). Cascais and Lisbon are left out, and will only have inter-municipal lines from Carris Metropolitana, since both municipalities have internal, municipalized operators - MobiCascais and Carris, respectively.
The new numbers and colors
With the arrival of Carris Metropolitana, comes a new numbering. The new lines (now called lines) on the North Shore will have four digits - o first will be a 1 or a 2, depending on whether the line in question belongs to Area 1 or Area 2The remaining three digits indicate the type of circulation, and in everyday life you don't need to know this by heart (it's just a way of organizing the supply):
- 10XX - circulates in the Amadora
- 11XX - circulates in Oeiras
- 12XX - circulates in Sintra
- 15XX - circulation between area 1 municipalities
- 16XX - circulates to municipalities outside area 1 or to Cascais
- 17XX - circulates to Lisbon
- 20XX - circulates in Loures
- 21XX - circulates in Mafra
- 22XX - circulates in Odivelas
- 23XX - circulates in Vila Franca de Xira
- 25XX - circulates between area 2 municipalities
- 26XX - circulates to municipalities outside area 2
- 27XX e 28XX - circulates to Lisbon
- 29XX - circulates out of the AML (West zone)
In addition to numbering, there are four types of lines:
- Next Line - blue colored, are local, neighborhood lines, often with circular routes that allow you to reach services in a certain area;
- Long Line - red color, are the most common lines, connecting different points within a municipality or between municipalities;
- Quick Line - yellow color, are lines that allow you to go faster (fewer stops) between one point and another, usually far away;
- Inter-Regional Line - pink color, are lines that go out of the AML, namely to the Oeste region (to the north) and to the Vendas Novas area (to the south).
There are two more types of lines, more touristy:
- Sea Line - are lines that operate mainly in the summer and bring people from the LMA who are far from the beach closer to it. The routes of these lines are long, i.e. equal to or greater than 30 km, and the intermediate stops are few;
- Tourist Line - are lines designed to connect points of interest in the LMA, such as museums and monuments. No Tourist Line has been created yet.
The new schedules
One month before the start of the road operation in Area 1 and 2 municipalities, Carris Metropolitana has already made available, on its website, a Line Converterso that you can know which number corresponds to the line that you usually catch nowadays. For example, this converter allows us to know that the current Vimeca line 15, which connects Lisbon to São Marcos, will be line 1733 and a Long Line (the first number in the new numbering is a 1 because the line belongs to Area 1 and will be operated by Viação Alvorada and the second number is a 7 because it passes through Lisbon).
Once you know the new numbering, you can go and find out its timetable. Carris Metropolitana has made available two different pages for schedules on the North Shore - two different pages for schedules on the North Shore - two different pages for schedules on the North Shore one for those in Area 1, e another for those in Area 2.
You can search by municipality or by line, and also see here all the lines that will exist in each municipality and area, gaining an overview of the new offer. You can also filter by direction, and don't forget to put in the correct date - it's a good idea to filter by date. important: Put in a weekday to get the most detailed schedules, since January 1 is a Sunday.
The approximately 13 thousand services and schedules now available can be consulted individually, with the description of the line/path spines and can be filtered to fit your needs, considering the time you want to travel, as well as the stop you are at. Conversely, you can plan your return trip just as accurately on any day of the week.
The new tariff
Remember the four main types of lines? In Carris Metropolitana, there are four different fares only, and each one applies to a specific type of line:
- Next Line - blue - applies to fare 1;
- Long Line - red - applies to fare 2;
- Quick Line - yellow - applies to fare 3;
- Inter-Regional Line - pink - applies to fare 4.
Tickets on board cost between 1,25 and 4,50 €, but if you buy in advance (with zapping), each trip costs between 0,85 and 3,10 €. All Navegante passes are valid.
What you need to know:
- o Sailor On Board is the on-board ticket that you buy from the driver. The price is more expensive because the driver's job is to drive the bus, not sell tickets. The goal is to discourage on-board purchases to increase the speed of the buses;
- o Prepaid Navigator is the mode zappingYou load the card with X amount of money and then you travel, and as you validate the card on the buses, you will be deducted the amount corresponding to the trip. O zapping can be loaded onto a disposable Navegante card or onto the same Navegante card that you use for the pass; in the latter case, you can update the balance zapping at any ATM machine;
- the trips in the Inter-Regional Lines Lines cost the same as Long Lines (fare 2), and you can use Inter-Regional Lines like Long Lines on a day-to-day basis, as long as you don't leave AML. In Area 2, Inter-Regional Lines connect AML with the Oeste region; if you leave AML for the Oeste, the trip will cost you an extra 50 cents (i.e. you pay €3.10 instead of €2.60) - note that on Inter-Regional Lines the zappingyou can only buy on board. If you have a pass and need to travel regularly between Oeste and AML, you have to add a supplement of 20 € to your Navegante pass.
Carris Metropolitana will continue to make available during the next few weeks multiple information about the changes that are underway and that go into operation as of the next day 1, on your site and on its social networks (in particular on Instagram). These elements will also be disseminated and distributed on board the current buses, at the respective municipalities and other places where information is posted.
