The measure came into force on 10 July 2026
[...] the annual financial requirement is likely to be between €20 million and €25 million.
[...]
The policy is intended to encourage more people to leave their cars at home and use public transport for journeys within Porto and the surrounding urban region.
[Mayor] Duarte has cautioned that abolishing fares will not, by itself, resolve Porto’s congestion problems. He described the programme as part of a broader mobility strategy that must also include faster services, better connections, increased capacity and more reliable journey times.
Porto currently has about 16 kilometres of dedicated bus lanes. The municipality plans to increase this to approximately 22 kilometres by the end of 2026, giving buses greater priority over private vehicles on some of the city’s busiest routes.
The mayor said public transport would need to become more convenient and dependable than travelling by car before a substantial change in daily habits could be expected. The municipality’s objective is for public transport to become the main means of travelling around Porto, with private cars taking a secondary role.
The scheme is unusual because Porto is paying for its residents to travel across the entire metropolitan network rather than offering free journeys only inside the municipality.
The Porto Metropolitan Area comprises 17 municipalities, each of which remains responsible for its own spending decisions. [...]
I have yet to see any city where the reason more people don't use public transit is the lack of good service as opposed to the cost for fares. Thus free fares is fixing the wrong problem, if you have money for free fares you have money to give more people better service.