The annual financial report submitted to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission reveals that a total of 176,727,284 passengers were transported in 2024.
This number comprises passengers with valid tickets, totaling 171,898,118, an increase of 6.3% from 2023, and instances of fare evasion, which accounted for 4,829,166, a rise of 18.1%.
The report attributes the growth in demand to two initiatives offering free transport for youth, effective from January 1, 2024. The ‘Navegante’ pass, covering categories ‘sub 18+TP’ and ‘student sub 23+TP’, became completely free for students up to 23 years old.
On December 1, 2024, the free pass scheme was extended to all youth up to 23 years.
For paid ticket categories, there was an 8.3% increase. Compared to the estimates in the Plan of Activities and Budget, there was a 3.1% increase in paid ticket passengers and a 1.4% increase in total passengers.
Service offerings were impacted by ongoing projects under the new Railway Signaling System and the expansion of the Circular Line, leading to reduced availability and affecting demand.
“There were closures on the Green and Yellow lines from August 3 to 19, and the constraints related to these investments prevented higher demand rates. In the last two months of the year, three partial strikes impacted service and demand: the strikes on November 6, November 14, and December 3 started with the opening and lasted until 10:00,” the report states.
The report also noted that in 2024, the average fleet availability during morning peak hours was 95.3 trains ready for public service, against a maximum daily need of 91 trains, marking a 3% increase from the previous year.
Regarding the main infrastructure and following changes to the signaling system (CBTC), “technical performance levels were below those of 2023.”
In some months, monthly unavailability surpassed the set maximum of four accumulated hours across the entire network, with the yearly average reaching 3.44 hours.
The reliability of the main infrastructure averaged 96 hours between failures, failing to meet defined quality goals.
Concerning human resources, the Lisbon Metro continued its recruitment process, initiated in 2018, for commercial, maintenance, and senior technical roles in 2024.
“With the approval of the 2024 Plan of Activities and Budget, the hiring deadline was extended for 53 new employees, allowing for internal recruitment for train driver training, enhancing service offerings associated with the Network Expansion Plan,” the group stated.
Nonetheless, throughout the year, only 25 hires were made from the authorized staff increase due to a market shortage of professionals and high salary expectations for qualified technicians.
Including replacement hires, the total amounted to 40 new recruitments: 13 traffic agents, 13 senior technicians, two construction inspectors, and 12 maintenance officials.
The Lisbon Metro operates daily on four lines: Yellow (Rato-Odivelas), Green (Telheiras-Cais do Sodré), Blue (Reboleira-Santa Apolónia), and Red (Aeroporto-São Sebastião). Typically, services run from 06:30 to 01:00.
