Yesterday, I had one of the few successful public transportation system encounters I’ve experienced here. Unfortunately it turned out to be in the service of a wisdom tooth extraction, but that’s not the point of this blog post. I just thought it might be, ummmm, informative to write about the transport system here, which garners ecstatic posts on FB from new arrivals, but over time, leaves something to be desired. Especially the buses here in Porto.
But first, let’s look at the subway system here, aka the Metro. The Metro system is very reliable and pretty nice, but there is not a Metro stop within any reasonable walking distance from my neighborhood, even though I live in a very central area. One station is Lapa, which is about 1-1/2 km uphill from my house and includes an extensive set of stairs – no elevator or escalator up to the platform. The other closest station is Trindade (which I keep reading as “Trinidad” even though I know the station is not an island nation), a much bigger, more modern station, but still over a kilometer walk through a super-busy area with lots of construction going on.
you can get lost in here!
One of the big construction projects is a new subway route, the so-called “pink line,” which will have a stop within pretty easy walking distance from my house. Unfortunately it will only have 4 stations, but still will be a lot better than nothing, as I will be able to transfer to numerous other lines because the end points are two big, main stations. The construction noise can be heard from my apartment and can be deafening when they are jackhammering; they work 24/7 (special permit), dead next to a hospital. I cannot imagine what those patients are undergoing. It’s scheduled to open in 2024, which I assume means 2025 or later. The famous market here, Mercado do Bolhão, which was a major reconstruction, just opened – 4 years late.
The other challenging part of the Metro (and the bus system, too – more on that later) is the whole “zone” system of buying pass cards. The whole city is divided into zones, and you buy only within a selected zone. So, if you don’t know the city well (or at all), you have no idea how many zones or which ones to buy for, so that’s an adventure.
As for the buses, again – although I live in a very central area, there is only one bus that goes most places that I desire. I call it the “301 ghost line.” Ghost because it apparently has no schedule and will show up, or not, at any time. Theoretically it’s supposed to run every 20 minutes, but that has never happened. The other day I waited for 50 minutes, with insult added to injury by the fact that the bus stop is now 3 long blocks from my new apartment, and the bench at the stop has been removed. Standing for that long is not a good idea for me in my current condition. There were 3 of us waiting, watching as the other line, the 602, repeatedly drove by. One man called a car; the woman walked away, and I finally subcumbed and also called a car. This has happened to me many times. I cannot speak to how other lines work, other than the 602, which seems to run quite often, but the 301 sucks and that’s the truth.
Yesterday I ventured out using the bus lines to go to the dentist. For once, the 602, which has 2 stops pretty close to my house, was the starting point. It came on time, I transferred within a few blocks, and the next one came on time too. Unfortunately, it was a fairly long walk to the dentist – once my surgery is done and I’ve fully recuperated, I expect this sort of thing to be less of a challenge. Going back was even better – the stop was only a block from the dentist. Unfortunately I had to walk several blocks in the other direction (and then back) to pharmacy, but that’s not the bus’s fault! The only long wait was at the transfer point, a place I’ve been before. Last time, I waited over an hour for the 301, it’s a vivid memory. There was, at that time, a bench and awning. Now it’s been removed, I have no idea why, it’s a big hub for buses and widely used. This time, I waited only 20 minutes, so I’m going to count that as a victory. I leaned against a tree and finally grabbed a chair from a nearby cafe. They were closed, so it was a pretty safe bet. Anyway, it let me off close to my house and I count the entire experience as a rare win for the Porto bus system.
As for buying a pass, you can get an Andante card, a refillable pass that you can load tickets on – again, within your zone, and woe be unto you if you attempt to (unknowingly) travel outside your selected zone with this card. Loud beeping from the scanner and shame from the dirty looks of the driver and passengers as you shell out extra change and the bus sits in traffic. The card itself does not show you how many rides you have taken or how many you have left – you have to scan it at a machine at a Metro station. No machines at bus stops. There’s a monthly unlimited pass, too, but that one does not make financial sense for me – I don’t ride the bus/metro that much, though I wish I did!
Then there is the transportation system between cities. In general, this is pretty good. I can get to Lisbon on the train in about 3 hours, but contrary to general belief, it’s not really that cheap – somewhere around €30 to start, more for the speedy train. The station in Porto for trains to Lisbon is not, strangely, the famous blue-tiled Sao Bento station, which is pretty central and right in the prime tourist area. Instead, it’s Campanha, more on the outskirts – about 3-1/2 km from my house, as opposed to Sao Bento, which is only 1.2 km.
vs
I’ll be traveling to Espinho later today on the train – I have an appointment with SEF, the immigration agency, to change my address. Yes, you have to go in person. It took 2 months of calling (not by me, I paid a facilitator to do it) to get this appointment! Even though it is a national holiday (and Yom Kippur, to boot), the trains are running, albeit on a reduced schedule. Happily no strikes are scheduled right now, a very common occurrence here.
Often neglected are the numerous bus companies that ride the roads here in Portugal. Very handy when the train system is on strike. I have only taken Flix so far, and it was great, though the scene at the bus station was really chaotic and confusing – no signage, you didn’t really know if or when your bus was coming, buses with incorrect names, etc., but once on the right bus, it was pretty nice! And cheaper, too – about €20. And no stairs to drag your luggage up and down; the driver just puts it in the storage compartment – no hauling up into the train and then finding a place for it. Way more convenient IMHO. When I go down to Lisbon in November, I plan to take the bus, even though riding the train is more romantic. But when you are catching a plane to go get hip surgery, I guess romance has to take a back burner.
Last, there are the private car services – Bolt and Uber. Both work pretty well, though I have gotten stranded or had to wait a really long time on a couple of occasions. But not very often – usually they come within 10 minutes, and thank god for it. In smaller towns this service is not so common, so another reason for me to live here in Porto. It does mean that I end up spending more on transportation than I budgeted, that’s for sure. I hope that situation will ease once my hip situation is fixed, and also once the new subrway station arrives.
So that’s it, public transportation in Portugal. A mixed bag. I’d give the train system a general thumbs-up, but the bus system here in Porto … not so much. I miss driving and often long for a car, but that’s not going to happen, so I have to adjust and live with what is available. And as a side note, I must say that overall it’s way better here than it ever was in L.A. (lots of buses with drunk, high and/or mentally ill people, sometimes with weapons, and unbelievably rude, unhelpful bus drivers, not to mention a schedule that rivals the “301 ghost line”), and certainly Durham, where public transportation is just so lacking that I’m not even gonna get into it. So it’s all relative.
The Next Big Adventure 