It is green, the color of the CP (Comboios de Portugal), the Portuguese railways. But above all it is green, symbolic of the ecological transition that the Portuguese government wants to implement. Since its launch on October 21, the new rail “passe verde” has been a great success. 3,000 were sold in three days.
The queues at the ticket offices at Santa Apolonia station, in the center of Lisbon, bore witness to this. “I have never waited so long. But ultimately it’s not too bureaucratic. You must fill out a form and show your identity card and pay €20. It’s simple”, said Adriana da Silva with a big smile.
The 23-year-old girl and her brother Diogo are students in Lisbon. They did the math and the new title turned out to be very advantageous. “We go to our grandmother’s house in the north of the country every weekend. The round trip would cost us more than the new transport ticket which is valid for one month for two trips per day. We really win,” adds the young girl.
Faster trains, the “alfa commuters” between Lisbon-Porto and Lisbon-Faro in the south, are excluded from the new title. As are the urban trains of Lisbon and Porto, already benefiting from a preferential and multimodal ticket. There is only one constraint attached to the “passe verde”: compulsory reservation on regional trains 24 hours in advance.
A financial breakthrough
The rail transport ticket already existed, created in 2022 and put into service in 2023. It was an initiative of the socialist-ecologist Livre (Libre) party which had adopted a ticket at €49 per month, but which remained limited to certain regional trains. The new right-wing government, which came to power in April 2024, therefore goes further, with an offer which, however, remains limited to the train.
The Livre party is delighted, but recalls that its version was only a starting point. “Our initiative opened the way to a real national mobility program covering all modalities, because the rail network does not cover the entire country. Rail is a poor relation in transport and it must be the subject of investment. But we consider that it is all the modalities which must be supported”, estimates Isabel Mendes, president of the Book parliamentary group in the National Assembly.
German inspiration for a greener transition
Portugal is the first country in Southern Europe to introduce a cheap transport ticket for almost its entire rail network. Until now the reference was German, with the Deutschlandticket, commonly called “Ticket D”, which allows unlimited travel on all local and regional public transport for €49 per month.
Created in April 2023, it will be maintained until the end of 2024. But it is criticized by carriers who consider that the price applied is too low to make the measure viable. The “Ticket D” is valid on city buses, metros and trams and on short and medium distance trains, unlike the Portuguese model.
Austria, for its part, launched a unique annual ticket, the Klimaticket Ö, at a price of €1,095 per year to take any bus, tram, metro or train. As for France, this summer it set up a system at €49 per month to travel across the entire TER and Intercités network. A “rail pass” only intended for young people under 28, which has not been very successful (235,376 copies sold out of the 700,000 hoped for).
Many uncertainties
At only €20 per month, the Portuguese pass seems very advantageous in any case. With this measure, the public authorities want to fight against “all-car”. The government program of 13 measures in favor of green mobility for a total amount of 115 million euros provides for the payment of compensation of 18.9 million euros to the CP.
But doubts exist about the viability of the system. “It’s good if there are enough trains, if they don’t break down and if there aren’t constant strikes,” commented Rafael de Jesus in the queue at the ticket offices of Santa Apolonia station.
Frequent criticism of the chronic ills of the CP, indebted to the tune of nearly 2 billion euros, which successive governments carry at arm’s length, but without being able to invest in railway infrastructure. Next project and next priority, the Lisbon-Porto TGV, by 2030.