ZAP
Arrábida Bridge, over the Douro River, which connects Porto and Gaia
The river connection between the Cais do Ouro, in Porto, and the Afurada, in Gaia, will be resumed from this Friday. The announcement was made by Porto Metropolitan Transport (TMP), which invested 160 thousand euros in this pilot project.
Porto and Gaia will return, from this Friday, to be boat.
The boat will make the connection between the Cais do Ouro (Porto) and the Afurada (Gaia).
The connection between the two banks of the Douro River will be made hourly, in each sense, and with the possibility of using the walking.
According to Marco Martins, president of TMP, the pilot project will last four months and has a vessel with capacity for 20 people.
O Service starts at 7:30 am on Friday, in Afuradaand 13 trips are planned in each direction from Monday to Thursday, 15 trips to Friday, 13 to Saturday and 11 to Sunday, ”he specified, clarifying that these calls may suffer adjustments if the demand for river transportation intensifies.
The trips will end at 20:00 from Monday to Thursday. From Friday to Sunday, the last boat will leave the Cais at 22:00.
Faster than land
Each trip “lasts about seven minuteswhen by car, on a day without traffic, it lasts between 20 and 30 minutes and for public transportation about 50 minutes, ”he said.
On a day of, this crossing by land for taking more than an hour.
The president of TMP said he was able to launch this pilot project on the eve of São Pedro da Afurada festivities (taking place on Saturday night to Sunday) was “a race”, given that the local authorities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia returned this competence to the Porto Metropolitan area on May 29.
This connection – which will be, For now, available until the end of October – It will also serve to do “a real study of demand”.
TMP intends to understand the flow potential of this connection, both with the residents of both cities, and with tourists, to later “launch a contest” for this river crossing.
Besides being possible to use the walking pass (Metropolitan and Municipal) and Andante Z2, There will be onboard ticket, with a cost of 2.25 euros.
More connections in the future
On May 30, the president of TMP pointed out that, after the pilot project, the study “will naturally say what is the possible search, economic viability and other places” through Gaia, Porto and Gondomar.
Concerned is “the connection between Ribeira do Porto and Cais de GaiaAnd “more upstream a connection between Grassy and avintes“And then“ a possible connection that can come at least since Plim zone, pass in Freixo, play in Oliveira do Douro and then connect to Ribeira do Porto and Gaia“.
“But this will be for 2026, after this study,” said the official.
The crossing between the Golden Cais and the Highlight, made by the flower vessel, was suspended in 2020, but the crossing resumed in the summer of 2022, in exceptional regime, during the St. Peter’s parties and the Viva Marés Festival.
