PHOTOS: Buses, Trams & Trains In and Around Lisbon

[WMATAGMOAGH]

As I mentioned in my Brussels layover photo thread, the real purpose of my travels was not to spend 8 hours in Belgium, but rather to spend nearly a week in Lisbon.  Lisbon seems to be relatively undiscovered by tourists compared to other European cities, and it is especially undiscovered by Americans.  It took some time for the city to grow on me, but I really liked it and would certainly consider another vacation to Portugal in the future if the opportunity presented itself.  In addition to the "proper" tourist sites, there is plenty for transit fans to seek out as well.

In fact, the main attraction for railfans is an attraction for all the other tourists as well, the "remodelado" tram cars that still run in service on all but one of Lisbon's tram lines each and every day.  These trams were originally built in the 1930s but were restored in the 1990s and remain in service to this day.  The trams are a vital part of the city's transportation network, because the trams are able to navigate Lisbon's steep hills and narrow streets more effectively than buses could.  The most popular tram line is the 28, which connects many tourist sites in the Barrio Alto, Chiado, Baixa, and Alfama, but is also used by locals getting to where they need to go.  Riding the 28 reminded me a bit of the cable cars in San Francisco due to the steep grades, but unlike in San Francisco, there is no riding on the outside of the cars (legally at least, I saw some young kids who rode this way however) and the cars come dangerously close to buildings on the side of the street in a way that the San Francisco cable cars do not.  There are some remodelado trams that are painted red, as opposed to the standard yellow livery, that operate a premium tourist service of some sort, but one need not ride that to experience a Lisbon tram ride, the regular trams do just fine.

Another great thing about the Lisbon trams is that unlike in San Francisco, where the cable cars require a premium fare, the Lisbon trams just require the same payment as any other line.  One can pay with cash, but the best deal is to get a "Viva Viagem" card, which is a paper smart card that is able to be used on the trams, buses, Metro, and even the commuter rail lines that branch out from central Lisbon.  The card costs 0.50 EUR and one can load either 5 EUR, 10 EUR, or 15 EUR at a time on to the card.  The card then deducts a fare each time it is used, and the fares for using this card are less than paying cash.  Transfers are also included. 

But you're probably sick of my blabbering on and on and want to see some photos, right?  Here you go...









Here are the kids riding on the outside of the tram, I saw them on another car going the other way not long after that:























Remember how I said there is one line that the remodelado trams don't serve?  Line 15 is served by newer, single ended articulated trams built by Siemens that entered service in 1995.  These trams also require passengers to have a Viva Viagem card or to buy a ticket using machines that only accept coins on board, drivers on the other tram lines (and buses) collect fares themselves.  Supposedly there are spot checks to ensure that passengers have validated tickets but I didn't see any when I rode the 15.  One strange thing about the 15 is that it doesn't stop at a station if no one is waiting and no one has requested to get off.  In order to board the tram, as is often the case in Europe, one must push a button to open the door.  But to get off, what appeared to me to be the "door open" buttons were also the stop request buttons.  I didn't realize this until after the tram passed the stop I wanted to get off at, so I had to get off at the next stop and walk back to where I waned to go.  In addition to serving locals, many tourists use Line 15 to get to and from the attractions in Belem.  The 15 also stops at the Museu da Carris, the local transit agency's museum (more on that in part 2).













I was traveling with a friend, so I didn't ride the Metro (or the trams) as much as I might have if I was traveling solo.  I rode the entire Red Line from the airport in to town, and also rode short sections of the Blue and Green lines.  Not sure who made the trains, but as is usually the case in Europe, they lack RFWs.  Some trains had open gangways that allowed passage between the cars, which operate in 3 car sets and are usually coupled together to form 6 car trains.  In the same way that WMATA trains now pull all the way to the front of the platform and no longer are centered regardless of car length, the 3 car trains would stop all the way at the front of the platform, leaving anyone who thought the train would serve the entire platform to have to run up to catch the train.  All the trains had automated announcements but they were often difficult to hear.  The trains also had LED signs that would display the next station.  Despite getting the sense that the tracks were mostly straight with no sharp curves, the trains probably never went more than 45 KPH (less than 30 MPH), which was surprising.  Some of the stations are works of art, but unfortunately, since I didn't ride the system much, I didn't get many station photos.  Perhaps the strangest thing I found is that at the airport station, which is relatively new (I think it opened within the past year or two), there are places where there are only stairs, not escalators, from the platform up to fare control, and the escalators that are provided are not really wide enough for both a person and a rolling suitcase to be passed by someone wishing to walk up the escalator. 







Lisbon is also known for its three funicular routes, that are useful for climbing up the steep hills.  Although I photographed each of the three funicular lines, I never rode any of them.  Also, one line was out of service for restoration, but I think it should be back in service again by now.  Since the funiculars are parked along their tracks overnight, they are a target for graffiti artists.
















I made one day trip out of Lisbon, going to Sintra and Cabo de Roca.  To get out there, I took the Lisbon-Sintra commuter rail line, which is one of the busiest in all of Europe, with about 8 TPH in middays if I'm not mistaken on the Sintra branch alone.  The Viva Viagem card that is valid for all the services within Lisbon is also valid on this line and the line to/from Cascais, which I used for the return trip to Lisbon in the evening.










The Lisbon bus fleet has some variety to it, with MANs, Volvos, and some Mercedes-Benz artics.  I only rode one bus within Lisbon itself, which was on a Mercedes artic, and I'd say the ride was fairly uneventful.  As is often the case in Europe, bus stops are given names and they were announced on an LED screen at the front of the bus so one would know what the next stop would be.  Boarding was at the front door only and the driver collected fares upon boarding.
















I also took a day trip out to Sintra, which is just west of Lisbon, and from there, took a bus to Cabo de Roca, which is the westernmost point in continental Europe, to watch the sun set into the Atlantic Ocean (think about that one for a moment).  Bus service within Sintra (and also Cascais and Oeiras) is provided by a company called Scotturb.  I rode two Scottrub routes.  The first is the 434, which is a hop-on-hop-off loop route that connects the train station to the Sintra National Palace, Moorish Castle, and Pena Palace.  The hills leading to the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace are steep, and the roads are narrow; it is impressive to watch the drivers navigate their buses up and down the roads this route traverses. 

I misread the timetable for the 403 bus from Sintra to Cabo de Roca (on account of not really knowing any Portugese, so I got the directions confused) but luckily the mistake didn't mean missing the sunset.  The Scotturb timetables are interesting.  They list the time the bus leaves the origin point for the route, and then have a strip map showing how many minutes it takes for the bus to travel between timepoints.  To figure out when the bus reaches an intermediate point on the route, one has to add up the travel time and then add that to the time the bus leaves the origin. 

The 434 is a 5 EUR fare per person that allows unlimited boardings for most of the route.  However, if you board the route at certain stops on the "downhill" portion of the route returning to Sintra, your ticket is punched, and it is no longer valid.  The fare for the bus to Cabo de Roca is based on how far you travel, you tell the driver your destination and he tells you fare.  Drivers can make change.  There is also a 10 EUR pass that allows unlimited travel for the day, and is valid on Route 434 to the castles, but I didn't buy it and it ended up costing us a few euro (we ended up paying more than 10 EUR each for our Scotturb rides over the course of the day).  There were Viva Viagem readers on the Scotturb buses but I didn't see anyone using them, when I tried using my card on the Scotturb buses the card was considered to be invalid.

The bus to Cabo de Roca traverses some hilly terrain and country roads.  Although the route only operates once an hour, it seemed to be an important lifeline for the residents in the area, in addition to the tourists who wish to get to Cabo de Roca, and at one stop, many schoolkids boarded only to get off a few stops later.  After watching the sunset at Cabo de Roca, my traveling companion and I boarded another 403 heading in the same direction to go to Cascais, and we returned to Lisbon from there.





Europe's westernmost bus stop:



Returning to Lisbon, I paid a visit to the Carris Museum, which is a transit museum run by Lisbon's transit operator, Carris, at their active tram depot.  Unfortunately, it is being renovated (there is no mention of this on the museum website) so while I was shown a few static displays (they have a policy of saving the first bus of each type for the museum, I didn't see much of the collection, nor was I able to ride the historic tram that they use to take you between the various parts of the permanent exhibition within the depot.  Oh well, can't have it all.  I did get photos of these however:







That's all for this trip, but I'll post some long overdue photos from when I had a day long layover in Budapest in the coming days hopefully...

[WMAveteran]

Well done, educational and superb, as usual.  Thank you very much indeed.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

You're very welcome, thanks for reading!