Metro do Porto has transported more than a billion passengers since the first line opened 21 years ago, and this year has already surpassed the “annual demand record”, with more than 72 million users.
In a statement on its official website, Metro do Porto is marking 21 years of operation of the system and the opening, on December 7, 2002, of the section of the Blue Line, which ran between Trindade and Senhor de Matosinhos stations.
From the opening in 1999 of the first construction site, in Campanhã, to the inauguration of the VC Fashion Outlet – Modivas station, the last to be created in 2017, the network has stretched over 67 kilometers and 82 stations.
The Blue line was joined by five more lines (Red, Green, Yellow, Violet and Orange lines) and Porto and Matosinhos were joined by the municipalities of Vila Nova de Gaia, Maia, Gondomar, Vila do Conde and Póvoa do Varzim.
Since then, 1.031 million validations have been recorded and more than 133 million kilometers have been covered, the equivalent of 3,325 complete laps of planet Earth.
During these 21 years, Metro do Porto also highlights “notable environmental gains”: 55,000 fewer tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per year, more than 200,000 square meters of green areas and more than 5,000 trees planted as part of refurbishment works complementing the network.
This year “the annual demand record [for 2019] has already been surpassed, with more than 72 million people traveling on board the metro vehicles,” the company reveals.
“But while these 21 years fill us with satisfaction at the results achieved, it is the future that is the focus of our attention,” says Metro do Porto, noting the completion of the Yellow line extension between Santo Ovídio and Vila d’Este at the end of this year and the completion of the Pink line in 2024.
Metro do Porto also lists the start of construction work on the Ruby line, which will connect Casa da Música and Santo Ovídio and involve the construction of a new bridge over the River Douro, and the inauguration of the MetroBus, between Boavista to Praça do Império and Rotunda da Anémona.
