Porto Residents Ride Buses and the Metro for Free From Today Under a €20 Million City Scheme
From Thursday, residents of Porto who hold the municipal Porto Card can ride the metro and buses across the metropolitan Andante network for free. Mayor Pedro Duarte launched the roughly 59,400-user scheme at Trindade station; it is valued at up to €20.5 million a year.
Public transport in Portugal's second city is now free for the people who live there. From Thursday, residents of Porto who hold the municipal Porto Card can ride buses and the metro across the metropolitan network at no charge — a flagship promise of the city's governing coalition that finally took effect after months of budgeting and regulatory checks.
Mayor Pedro Duarte launched the scheme at the Trindade metro interchange, the busiest node in the Porto network. "As of today, public transport is free in the city of Porto for those who have the Porto Card," he told the gathering, describing the measure as one of the most tangible things a municipality can hand back to its residents.
What the pass covers
The free travel is delivered through an integrated fare title loaded onto the Porto Card, the identity card already used by residents for municipal services. Crucially, its territorial reach is set to match the metropolitan Andante pass rather than a single city zone — meaning the benefit extends across the integrated network of Metro do Porto light rail and STCP (Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto, the city bus operator) and other services folded into the Andante system, not just journeys inside the historic centre.
Until now, Porto Card holders received only a modest allowance of 22 free trips a year. The new arrangement replaces that with unlimited travel, recharged annually. The city estimates roughly 59,400 residents will use it — about 23.5% of Porto's population of some 252,700.
How residents sign up
Nobody is automatically enrolled, but the steps are light. Residents who already hold a Porto Card need to update it once at an Andante store or a Payshop agent, a process the mayor said takes only seconds. Those without a card can request one online or at the Gabinete do Munícipe (Citizen's Office). Young people who already benefit from Porto's free pass for under-23s do not need to do anything. The free entitlement is then renewed each year.
The cost, and the fine print
The measure carries a substantial price tag for the municipal budget: the underlying contract with Transportes Metropolitanos do Porto (Porto Metropolitan Transport) values it at up to €20.5 million a year, with the city's phased commitments rising through 2027. It was one of the central pledges of the PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition that runs the city.
There is one procedural caveat. Like all large public-spending commitments, the contract needs the sign-off of the Tribunal de Contas (Court of Auditors), and its terms provide for a guaranteed start no later than 1 January 2027 should that clearance run late. By switching the benefit on this week, Porto has moved ahead of that backstop date — betting that the auditors' green light will follow, and putting the city among the growing list of European municipalities trying to lure residents out of their cars with fare-free public transport.
