Pedro Duarte leads petition to suspend 2nd phase of Porto metrobus

" Common sense demands that we consider this before moving forward with this second phase. Because this second phase implies an irreversible change - I would say destruction - of this area of ​​Avenida da Boavista as we know it," Pedro Duarte told Lusa today.

At issue is the project for the second phase of the metrobus, between Pinheiro Manso and Anémona, which was stalled in court but can now move forward.

"This implies suspending the work, it implies finding alternatives, because we believe that there are alternatives that will fulfill the city's mobility objective, which we understand and accept, of interconnecting a public transport network, but there are alternatives that allow us to preserve the trees, the landscape balance next to the City Park and that allow us to preserve the cycle path", he defended.

The leader of the PSD/Porto district also states that the petitioners' objective is not to "end the metrobus project", which is "at a stage where there is no turning back", but to make the project "reconsidered, without this implying any loss of funds" from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).

Specifically, the petition "For a Green, Humanized and Sustainable Boavista Avenue" rejects "the advancement of the second phase of the metrobus in a dedicated channel on Avenida da Boavista", defends that "the felling of dozens of trees be prevented, preserving the existing tree heritage" and that "the current cycle path, recognized as an example of soft and sustainable mobility" be safeguarded.

The petition states that the city "still does not know, nor trust, the effectiveness" of the metrobus, which is not yet in service, pointing out that, in the second phase, "by imposing an exclusive and segregated channel for BRT [metrobus] vehicles, the preservation of the tree heritage is compromised, the pedestrian space is disqualified and the cycling experience of the avenue is eliminated".

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs told Lusa that "the hydrogen bus model itself" raises "some doubts" for him, recalling that there were solutions already tested such as "electric vehicles", "fast trams and other solutions in which the rails allow them to be laid on grass, for example".

Pedro Duarte said that more than a hundred trees could be "destroyed" by the project, but according to the public tender consulted by Lusa in January 2024, these trees "will, for the most part, be viable for direct transplantation or, if the work schedule does not allow it, for transplantation with temporary storage in a nursery, which is why it is planned to transplant all specimens" nearby.

When asked about the cycle path, since the second phase project foresees that one will be maintained, the local candidate explained that the petition aims to preserve "this cycle path, which has a very different setting from any other within the city".

Regarding the work already carried out on Avenida da Boavista, without a cycle path and with few green spaces, Pedro Duarte admits that if he had been the one to decide "this would never have been the option", considering that "there should have been another 'green' concern", with solutions "that already exist in other European cities".

"But that was not the option. What was needed now was to go back to more work to destroy what had just been done. My focus at this time, and that of the people who support me in this petition, is basically to try to, at least in what we are doing in time, try to avoid the same mistakes being made," he says.

Regarding the other signatories, Pedro Duarte has not yet wanted to reveal names, as the collection of signatures will begin today, with a gathering scheduled for Saturday at Parque da Cidade at 3:00 pm.

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