Fifteen years and 635 million passengers later, Porto Metro network expansion is still ongoing
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The Porto Metro blue line was inaugurated on 7 December 2002, connecting the Trindade and the Senhor de Matosinhos Stations with a track length of 12 km and 18 stations.
This was a milestone in the city's transport network. Public transport started to include a light railway in the Porto Metropolitan Area, combining an underground rail network with light rail lines.
Thursday, 7 December marks 15 years of Porto Metro, with 635 million passengers transported, 90 million kilometres travelled, a network with 6 lines, 67 kilometres and 82 stations serving seven municipalities of Porto Metropolitan Area and moving an estimated 60 million passengers a year.
The construction of two new routes are ongoing, namely the pink line (G), connecting São Bento Station to Casa da Música and the extension of the yellow line (D) till Vila d'Este, in Vila Nova de Gaia, which should start operations in 2022, according to Porto Metro' officials.
Porto metro has declared in a press release that "till 2030, the environmental and social benefits created by the Metro will sum up to 3 Billion Euros", a substantially higher value than the investment made in building the infrastructure.
Porto Metro in facts and figures (2002-2017)
6 lines
82 stations
67 km of network
635 million users... almost 62 times the population of Portugal
90 millions of kilometres travelled... the equivalent to 2250 times around the Earth.
464 thousand square meters of new vegetation areas... equivalent to half the area of a city park
Serves 7 districts in the Porto Metropolitan Area: Porto, Maia, Matosinhos, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila do Conde, Vila Nova de Gaia and Gondomar
Annual emission reduction of 62 tons of CO
Car traffic reduction in nearly 13 thousand vehicles
Network users save an estimated 199 hours per year
The system has a transport capacity of 9 thousand users per hour in each direction, in each of the lines
Monthly average of five million users
Daily average use of 220 thousand people
Architects who have developed the Porto Metro Station: Eduardo Souto Moura and Álvaro Siza Vieira.