Construction has begun on Lisbon's new Metropolitan Mobility Plan

The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) is set to introduce a new mobility plan, which is a successor to the 2016-2020 plan. The new Metropolitan Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMMUS) is presented as "a complex and complete planning exercise for metropolitan mobility, aligned with the needs of the population", as described by Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML) in a statement.

This plan for the AML involves an investment of approximately €390,000 and will be carried out by Way2Go, the consultancy responsible for delivering the work, and coordinated by TML, the mobility company for the AML. The document is being drawn up in a context in which urban mobility in the AML has already changed significantly, namely with the creation of TML, the launch of the Navegante tariff and the redefinition of the public road transport model through Carris Metropolitana.

The PMMUS "aims to identify needs and propose measures and actions to improve the mobility of citizens in the metropolitan context and its 18 municipalities, promoting sustainable, safe and efficient mobility for citizens and goods, incorporating climate and energy aspects, addressing issues of safety, inclusion and accessibility, highlighting AML as an example of sustainability at European level". The construction of this plan began in December 2023 and in January this year, a meeting was held with municipal technicians and mayors at the Fernando Piteira Santos Municipal Library in Amadora.

With the collaboration of the 18 municipalities, the PMMUS is intended to represent a collective and metropolitan vision of mobility in the Lisbon region, complementing plans on a municipal or even more micro-scale that each municipality can promote. "This plan aims to gather information to identify mobility needs and problems, enabling the identification of programmes and funding mechanisms that can meet the needs identified and promote more efficient mobility in line with the needs of the population," says TML.

Lisbon's PMMUS should be ready in 20 months and follow "good national and international practices, namely the European Commission's Guidelines for the realisation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans".

The plan will include "two aspects that TML considers to be fundamental to achieving a good result, both in terms of the feasibility of the measures and their acceptability".

1. The first aspect is a Strategic Environmental Assessment, "innovative in this type of plan", which will have the "aim of identifying and assessing the impact of activities associated with the transport of people and goods, as well as selecting proposals to increase energy, climate and environmental efficiency".
2. The second is the participation and involvement of the population in the different phases of the project, "reflecting the commitment to sustainability and to citizens that reinforces the vision of a project made with and for people". There will be four phases to this participation:
   1. The first, running until June 2024, in which "strategic players will be invited to jointly identify the main challenges and potential emerging in the metropolitan area".
   2. A second, between June and October, in which "a survey will be made available to the population so that inputs can be shared for the construction of future scenarios and goals".
   3. In the third phase, between October 2024 and June 2025, "residents of the 18 municipalities in the AML will be invited to jointly draw up concrete proposals for the PMMUS".
   4. Finally, in the last phase, which will take place between June and August 2025, a first version of the plan will be presented to the public so that the last contributions, useful for finalising it, can be collected.

TML added that the PMMUS "not only redefines urban mobility" in the country's most populous territory but also "places Portugal at the forefront of European efforts to achieve more sustainable and accessible cities".