Between Thursday night and early this morning, trial runs for the metrobus commenced, with the first vehicle traveling the full route from Boavista to Império, covering the avenues of Boavista and Marechal Gomes da Costa and including direction reversals at both ends, according to Metro do Porto.
“All operations, including approaching and stopping at all seven metrobus stations on this route, as well as direction reversal at the Boavista roundabout in front of Casa da Música, were tested multiple times successfully without any abnormalities,” the same source noted.
The transportation company specified that “the trials were conducted by technicians from the supplier, the Portuguese company CaetanoBus, and accompanied by officials from Metro do Porto, with constant monitoring by Municipal Police elements.”
The test concludes a period of over nine months since August 23, when Metro do Porto announced that “the metrobus project was completed,” except for station finishes, landscaping, and gardening.
In recent months, Metro do Porto President Tiago Braga had announced (on April 16) that the metrobus trials would start “in the first/second week of May,” and later (on May 15) “in the last week of May,” but they only began on Thursday night.
In August of last year, there was still discussion of the possibility of existing buses from Sociedade de Transportes Coletivos do Porto (STCP), which will operate the service, using the route temporarily until the arrival of metrobus vehicles, but this option was abandoned due to unsatisfactory tests.
The non-use of the route by buses led to its utilization as a bike path, prompting movements and sector associations to urge authorities to reconsider the project “as a whole,” as two lanes for cars were maintained and none for soft mobility means, despite their usage.
In August 2023, an official source from the Porto City Council clarified that removing the soft mobility lanes was a “political decision” prioritizing public transport due to space constraints.
The delay in vehicle arrival dates back to the cancellation of the first public tender for acquiring buses and the ‘green’ hydrogen production system, launched in December 2022 and canceled, then relaunched in July 2023, eight months later.
Metro do Porto eventually announced attempts to receive the vehicles by the end of 2024 or in January or February 2025, when it confirmed CaetanoBus’s forecast that the vehicles would begin circulating “early in May.”
In August, Porto City Council deemed it “unfortunate and unacceptable” that no clarifications were given and accused Metro of lacking transparency, coordination, and articulation, demanding “institutional respect,” a critical tone that marked the process in recent months.
The signing of the memorandum of understanding between the municipality, the State, and Metro do Porto on the project is still awaited.
The project also includes works at STCP’s Areosa depot, where the hydrogen production station will be located, with the contract stating that “until the hydrogen plant enters production, the supplier consortium will provide a mobile refueling station” for hydrogen.
The Porto metrobus will be a hydrogen bus service connecting Casa da Música to Praça do Império and Anémona (in the second phase) in 12 and 17 minutes, respectively.
The entire vehicle fleet and energy production system cost 29.5 million euros, while the metrobus construction project costs about 76 million euros.
