The city of Porto is an interesting one from a public transport perspective, says Colin Douglas
It’s always good to keep an eye on what is happening overseas, in terms of technology and best practice. Some foreign towns and cities also offer interesting vehicle fleets; one of those is the city of Porto in Portugal, somewhere which might be familiar to many UK readers as a popular holiday destination.
Porto is often mistakenly cited as Portugal’s second largest city, though this actually refers to Porto and its neighbour Vila Nova de Gaia. They have a combined population of some 550,000 people. The twin cities sit on either side of the Douro River in the north of Portugal, some 175 miles from Lisbon, and near to where the Douro flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
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Porto has an interesting and efficient transport system with a six-line Metro, part underground and part overground, a comprehensive city bus network and even a few heritage tram lines. The main city bus operator is publicly-owned STCP, short for Sociedad de Transportes Collectivos de Porto. The company was founded in 1946, when it took over the city’s previously privately-owned tramway system, founded in 1872.
The current fleet includes hybrid and natural gas buses, as well as locally-built Caetano electric buses, operating alongside its latest e-buses from Chinese manufacturer Zhongtong.
To cater for the growing tourist market in the city, there are now numerous open-top double deck bus operators, and for longer-distance passengers, there are a number of frequent express coach services to all other parts of the country from a major transport interchange on the city outskirts.
