According to a proposal accessed by Lusa, signed by Mayor Pedro Duarte, it is "appropriate to replace the current model with an integrated fare ticket, associated with the Porto Card, with territorial coverage equivalent to the Andante Metropolitan Pass and access to the public transport services integrated therein".

The budget allocation foreseen for the program is, "for the year 2026, a maximum of €10,250,000, for the year 2027 €18,700,000 and for the year 2028 €1,800,000".

According to the study justifying the contract, this "points to a preliminary estimate of a maximum approximate annual cost of €20.5 million, which corresponds in monthly terms to an approximate average cost of €1.71 million".

According to the draft contract, which Lusa also had access to, the contract between the Porto City Council and Transportes Metropolitanos do Porto (TMP) "produces financial and operational effects on 1 July 2026, or on the date of the approval or declaration of conformity by the Court of Auditors, if later".

Pedro Duarte's proposal, which was one of his main 'flagship' points in the election campaign, also safeguards that "the proposed model is based on a financial compensation logic based exclusively on the effective use of the system, with individualised monthly calculation, application of limits per beneficiary and billing supported by objective, verifiable and auditable data".

"The financial compensation to be borne by the municipality is limited to the validations actually carried out, excluding any fixed costs, demand estimates or compensations not supported by empirical evidence, in accordance with the principles of proportionality, good administration and financial responsibility," it points out.

The contractual model also expressly excludes "any guarantee of minimum revenue or volume of use, with the municipal compensation being entirely dependent on the actual use of the system by the beneficiaries."

Thus, even if the value of the metropolitan pass is €40, "when the accumulated value of the trips taken is less" than that amount, "the compensation will correspond to the value actually determined," but "when the accumulated value reaches or exceeds €40, the compensation will be limited to the maximum value of the metropolitan pass."

The contract, which covers only people over 23 years of age holding the Porto Card, will be called "Flex" and also provides that TMP will implement a transition system from the current system of offering 22 trips to cardholders.

The Porto City Hall predicts that the estimated number of public transport users will be 59,381, a figure that "results from the application of the public transport modal quota" calculated by the diagnosis made by the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS), still under development, which corresponds to 23.5% of the estimated resident population in 2025 (252,687).

"However, it is important to consider that a portion of these users correspond to students under the age of 23, who already benefit from fare schemes financed by the State within the scope of public policies to encourage the use of public transport," which number 16,682 according to city hall data, so the potential users of the new measure will be 42,699.