Taking its cue from the likes of Germany, the Portuguese government plans to introduce a €20 monthly rail pass to promote greater use of public transportation services.
The flat-rate subscription will give commuters access to all urban, regional, and inter-city trains operated by state-owned Portuguese Trains (CP), except for the premium Alfa Pendular service. Prime minister Luís Montenegro first announced the plan in August, though no timeline has been given yet, according to local media reports.
The service will cost far less than similar ones in other European countries, such as Germany’s Deutschlandticket, which is priced at €49 a month (from 2025, it’ll go up to €58, though some organisations are calling for a subsidised rate for low-income consumers). The Deutschlandticket — which is now an employee perk at many companies — doesn’t include inter-city trains, but does give holders access to local trains, buses and trams.
According to Germany’s stats office, the ticket likely contributed to a 6% year-on-year increase in the number of passengers using local bus and train services in the country in the first half of 2024. And a recent analysis by transport policy think tank Agora Verkehrswende partly attributed a slight decline in car use to the popularity of the ticket, per Clean Energy Wire.
France recently launched its own €49 rail subscription for young residents, although it’s less comprehensive than initially planned due to push-back from regional authorities.
Portugal will have to contend with similar resistance.
The Alliance of Passenger Rail New Entrants, an association of independent passenger rail companies, said in a statement the €20 pass “will inevitably result in a massive transfer of passengers from commercially driven open-access services to [public] long-distance intercity services.”
The scheme will only benefit state operator CP, to the detriment of private competitors, the association said. Taxpayers will have to cover the costs, and future high-speed rail projects will be threatened.
The European Commission recently said it would back a new high-speed rail link between Lisbon and Porto. The project will feature 142km of railway works and 51km of new single-track connections.
That link will pave the way for a rail connection between Portugal and Spain, which will promote a shift from road and air transport to rail, the commission says.
Tags: Deutschland ticket, Rail
