Porto Public Transport

"Porto Transportation

Roads and Bridges

The road system capacity is augmented by the Via de Cintura Interna or A20, an internal highway connected to several national highways and city exits, complementing the Circunvalação 4-way road, which borders the north of the city and connects the eastern side of the city to the Atlantic shore. The city is connected to Valença through the highway A28, to Estarreja through the A29, to Lisbon through the A1, to Amarante through the A4, to Braga through the A3. There is also an outer-ring highway the A41 that connects all the main cities around Porto, linking the city to other major metropolitan highways such as the A7, A11, A42, A43 and A44. There will be a new highway connecting to São João da Madeira which will be the A32.

During the 20th century, major bridges were built: Arrábida Bridge, which at its opening had the biggest concrete supporting arch in the world, and connects north and south shores of the Douro on the west side of the city, S. João, to replace D. Maria Pia and Freixo, a highway bridge on the east side of the city. The newest bridge is Ponte do Infante, finished in 2003. Two more bridges are said to be under designing stages and due to be built in the next 10 years, one on the Campo Alegre area, nearby the Faculty of Humanities and the Arts, and another one in the area known as the Massarelos valley.

Nowadays, Porto is often known as Cidade das Pontes (City of Bridges), "Cidade Invicta" (Invincible City) and "Capital do Norte" (The Capital of the North).

Public transport

Railways

Porto's main railway station is situated in Campanhã, located in the eastern part of the city (connecting to the lines of Douro (Peso da Régua/Tua/Pocinho), Minho (Barcelos/Viana do Castelo/Valença) and Norte (on the main line to Aveiro, Coimbra and Lisbon). From here, both light rail and suburban rail services connect to the city centre. The main central station is São Bento Station, which is itself a notable landmark located in the heart of Porto.

Subway/Light rail

Currently the major project is the Porto Metro system. Consequently, the Infante bridge was built for urban traffic, replacing the Dom Luís I, which was dedicated to the subway on the second and higher of the bridge's two levels. Five lines are open: lines A (blue), B (red), C (green) and E (purple) all begin at Estádio do Dragão (home to FC Porto) and terminate at Senhor do Matosinhos, Póvoa de Varzim (via Vila do Conde), ISMAI (via Maia) and Francisco Sá Carneiro airport respectively. Line D (yellow) currently runs from Hospital S. João in the north to D. João II on the southern side of the Douro river. The lines intersect at the central Trindade station. Currently the whole network spans 60 km (37 miles) using 68 stations, thus being the biggest metro system in the country.

Buses

The city has an extensive bus network run by the STCP (Sociedade dos Transportes Colectivos do Porto, or Porto Public Transport Society) which also operates lines in the neighbouring cities of Gaia, Maia and Gondomar. Other smaller companies connect such towns as Paços de Ferreira and Santo Tirso to the town center. In the past the city also had trolleybuses.

Trams

A tram network, of which only a tourist line on the shores of the Douro remain, saw its construction begin in 12 September 1895, therefore being the first in the Iberian Peninsula."