How Porto somehow built a modern Metro

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Follow me on instagram we gonna make shorts lol instagram.com/theflyingmooseca/

[@automagic11]

No more tiks and toks

[@Sirikazy]

False! Every Porto resident over the age of 30 will say that we had a better quality of life before the metro existed. The streets were full of Portuguese people and local businesses. The metro, which began construction at the same time as the European capital of culture, brought mass tourism to the city and a worse quality of life for the Portuguese. Those who benefited from the subway were the politicians who were corrupt in the sale of land, authorizations and taxes. The other sector that benefited was tourism. Main reason for the impoverishment of the population. It is a lie that there used to be more trafficking in the city and around it. The population lived closer to their workplaces than today and the need for the metro was non-existent. Even today, with the expansion of the "Ruby" metro line, there is more traffic entering and leaving the city of Porto. THIS WHOLE VIDEO IS FALLACIOUS.

[@manuellopes8281]

you not mentioned the part that they decided to abandon the first gen of metros because they didn't want to pay bombardier the maintenance of them. Instead they continue to change the metros in favour of cheap chinese models.

[@OntarioLakeside]

Please consider deleting instagram. We can no longer ignore its role in destabilizing society and dismantling propaganda.

[@dreacul]

@@Sirikazy My girlfriend studied for 3 months in Portugal and since I work from home I went with her to Coimbra. I pitty the people living in Porto or Lisboa. Made me feel bad to be there thinking how excessive tourism is ruining their lives. Not to mention how rude the tourists are OMG. You got an avenue, no crossings but the people would just cross wherever they want while there's a line of cars waiting. It's like everything is out of control. Feels such a pain to live there and whenever I was getting back to Coimbra felt so damn happy lol.

[@johnny_eth]

I lived in porto from 2002-2009 when the metro started operation. The trip from the hospital São João to the city center took 15 minutes compared to 1h30 on a bus during rush hour and the distance is only 5km. Insane how traffic destroys cities. Even if the metro is mostly replacing bus ridership, it is still saving most people 1-2 hours of they day which they can use for productive activities. And back then there were no smartphones and 5g. Either you read the newspaper, listened to some music or got bored to death. For so many people, tourists included, it improved the quality of life so much. Big public transit projects are always expensive but in the long run they will return their investment to society 100 fold. No one is complaining about the price of construction of the bullet train in Japan in the 60s, people just like their fast trains and take them for granted.

[@franciscoferreira4626]

Great comment! I 100% agree with you! What I also think it is important to say is that Porto’s topography makes it extremely difficult to walk anywhere! I mean, you can, but walking is really such a work out that to people without their own car, you are reliable on public transport. And when you are talking about buses doing tight corners and going uphill, it makes it prone to more accidents With metro we get to avoid that because, when a rail system is built, you don’t really depend on how your vehicle is driving, that becomes a constant. I live near Boavista and, within a 10 minute walk I get to Casa da Música station and I am reliably anywhere in the city within 30 minutes, not needing to check on what part it is because of terrain or how difficult the past is (specially due to those narrows streets it showed in the video).

[@Caveirazul]

I wish my city (Dublin) had a metro. The traffic here is horrible and destroys the city completely.

[@prize9550]

​@@franciscoferreira4626people in Japan did complain about their bullet train. A couple heads even resigned during construction. But the moment it opened, all those people shut their mouths

[@Carnagemode]

its also worth it to reduce traffic most of the time. If the metro wasnt build i really belive more people would have ditched the bus and moved to cars.

[@kallelaur1762]

I was actually thinking that this metro wasn't very good when I visited, it was full to the brim and didn't seem particularly fast (I had been to Lisbon and Madrid before). I wasn't considering that it could be a whole lot worse. But then again I come from Estonia where we spent 46 million euros to make existing tram lines even worse, so I don't really have a high ground here.

[@Pensyfan19]

Your daily reminder to simply build more trains. It is the only answer to every question in existence. Don't be brought down by questions of how much it costs, since those same people have no problem funding much more expensive highways. Always build more trains, and ceaselessly talk about how we should build more trains to everyone at all times of the day.

[@user-td3yi1mq7p]

I like trains

[@my2iu]

Did you miss the part of the video where they essentially bankrupted the city by building too many train lines and had to be bailed out?

[@laurencefraser]

@@my2iu ...well, that's one way to completely misrepresent what the video says actually happened, I suppose. The decision that caused that sequence of events to be a disaster which necessitated a government bailout wasn't building too many lines (ever extra line (that actually goes anywhere useful) increases the value of all other lines (at least until they hit capacity) in the network), it was making poor decisions regarding financing (specifically, agreeing to the frankly Idiotic refinancing terms). Of course, the entity that benefits the most from improved public transport is actually the central government (or city/region/whatever depending on how the system is structured), as most of the income generated from public transport is not in the form of ticket sales, but tax take, as good public transport increases economic activity. So the fact that they needed to go to banks rather than said governments for their loans in the first place even before getting to refinancing was already a poor decision, though likely one made by different people.

[@Inucroft]

@@my2iu Capitalist problems

[@obliteron]

Train good. Car bad. Horse chaotic neutral.

[@sdrx902]

my favourite thing about this channel is its detail and nuance. i generally try to stay on the lighter side of things, but if transit/urbanism communities have one problem, its surface-level nuanceless discussion. im so grateful for a high-quality creator who doesnt fall for "light rail bad", "park and ride bad" type arguments

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

Like who?

[@Gadottinho]

@@Gfynbcyiokbg8710 everyone else?

[@tonysoviet3692]

@@Gfynbcyiokbg8710 Seems like this is Not Just Bike recently, since he rarely discusses actual project implementation but more on the "feel" and "vibe" of a place. This video shows that effective public transport project does more than just improve the "vibe"; it requires good project planning, financing, political backing, etc,...

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

@tonysoviet3692 That's what I first thought except he's never really argued the "light rail bad" thing

[@szurketaltos2693]

Park and ride bad though. The number of people that can be served by a park and ride is quite small, so they should only be used sparingly in situations where they can be combined with housing or retail (or both) and not seen as a primary driver of land use in precious transit adjacent space (yes, even in mega cities with a lot of transit such land is precious).

[@michaeljohndennis2231]

Porto shows that other cities and countries just need to STFU stop with the excuses and just get it done as quickly as possible - excuses are useless, complaining is draining and nobody has any time for any goddam excuses

[@cnasna43]

🫱🏼‍🫲🏻

[@varsik289]

Well, in Madrid there is one city where the metro caused buildings to sink , 3 of the stations are still closed after 3 years and they still work to repair everything but looks like these stations are not going to be ever opened... So yeah, there are excuses sometimes... Unfortunately not all places are suitable for building metro or light metro And then you have Rome and Greece where you just keep finding historical stuff every time you dig something...

[@AlejanderLong]

That's true, I live in Zhengzhou, this area has been an important hinterland of China for thousands of years, and as a result, ancient relics from thousands of years ago are often accidentally unearthed.But we still have a lot of new subways

[@tiagorodrigues179]

@@varsik289 Still excuses, the reason the metro took so long to start being built was exactly that show you're putting on "It's hard to dig, the rock is too dense, our equipment will crack, every time we dig we find something" hello? you're in Europe, this applies to almost every place, the rock is too hard? get better equipment, if there isn't make new equipment or new ways, finding stuff underground? display it on the stations, there are solutions to every problem we have, we just have to actually want to solve them.

[@selalewis9189]

It requires good social policy that actually believes the state should invest in infrastructure that benefits everyone. This is a political ideology. It’s called socialism.

[@SterbenCyrodill]

As a frequent user of this system (and CP's suburban rails), I really like that you touched, even if slightly, on the capacity issue. it gets hard to sometimes get in the tram/train because it's already quite full on my station. I think we need quite the upgrade in our rolling stock and platform size. Metro do Porto is not perfect, but I'm so happy it exists. I have friends from older generations (those that knew the city before the Metro) and they describe how awful it was to get to certain places like Universities without it. I'm glad this channel appeared to me, you have great production and I'll be sharing this video with my friends as well. You've touched on some transit systems that I've used and know quite well (such as Washington DC, my beloved) If there's anything else you might need from or related to Porto, feel free to ask! I'll be subbing a filling out your form.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Glad you enjoyed, and yep - Paulo shared much more about how difficult it used to be when we chatted. Hope your friends enjoy :)

[@jspihlman]

They can always invest in different rolling stock in the future that is built for things like capacity, such as eliminating some seating or doing seating only on the walls to free up standing space.

[@vasquen]

This is because it used to be a suburban train track that was downgraded to urban light rail. They can never recover the original capacity that the pre existing cross rail had. If only they had chosen to modernise the central line instead of making it light rail

[@serendripity2498]

So many "light rail" (eg Streetcar) lines are built around the world, where actually a heavy rail metro would be the right tool for the job. This might seem cost-efficient in the beginning, but is ultimately a waste of money and resources.

[@JoaoSilva-xy5ep]

​@@vasquenthat wouldn't be possible in the porto architectural landscape. A light rail can still increase capacity: we can have more trams, we can make it much more space efficient and so forth.

[@miiana]

Just wanted to leave a positive comment here! As former Porto residents who used the metro system frequently, my boyfriend and I watched it together yesterday and found your content extremely interesting, informative and enjoyable! Congrats, we're looking forward to see more!

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Glad you enjoyed, thanks for watching!

[@jackalcrackle]

Great production quality as always, super underrated channel.

[@stickynorth]

Bingo! The visuals are world class and don't rely on stock photos or using the same images over and over again to fill the time like a few slapdash efforts I've seen lately...

[@Bike_Lane_Ahead]

The production, research, and storytelling is top-notch. I think if he had a more topical handle/brand this channel would be growing even faster

[@thomasfelten23]

True I just discovered it and it was a follow directly

[@realhawaii5o]

And Porto isn't stopping. With 2 new lines upcoming, including 1 with a scheduled opening this July! Adding to that, a decision was made last year to reopen the Leixões Railway branch for Passenger traffic... And that's scheduled for next month already! The Porto Urban Railways organised by the National Train operator, CP, is quite good, reliable and cheap!

[@nyxw]

CP and Reliable in the same sentence is not something I usually hear 😅 Portuguese here, and while we are probably more reliable than many US Transit agencies, there are a plethora of European Train Operators that best us, not only in reliablity but also other qualities, like adequate rolling stock, fast average speeds, high frequencies, proper stations, etc etc.

[@andrewdouglass1427]

@@nyxw Looking at a map, I see the tight curves on that line and I have to wonder what the average service speed will be. I've seen the map of the reconfiguration of CP local service, where trains from the south come through the city and wrap around on the Leixões line, while those from the north/east end at Sao Bento. Meanwhile, the Rubi and Rosa lines are under construction, but I wonder when that second line to Gondomar will finally be built. Or when the line to Trofa will finally be completed. So much is proposed, but will it actually get built? This is also in the context of the long-awaited creation of a truly integrated regional bus system.

[@nyxw]

@@andrewdouglass1427 If it was proposed, it will probably get built. Not only are there 2 lines in construction, but 4 others are being studied, as part of MdP's "Metro 3.0" plan. And when I mention service speeds, I am mentioning the country as a whole. We have some good lines with good speeds, and others very much going 80kmh in many places

[@takaga2236]

CP is definitely neither reliable nor cheap.

[@hugoribeiro1546]

CP is a sh*t... Strikes every month and a lot of employees that wouldnt last much if it was a private company. Its really sad

[@mystery3645]

This is insanely well produced and I'm baffled that you're at only 37k subscribers. I genuinely cant wait to see you grow!

[@thisisfiiiine]

Loved this video! As someone from Gaia, I'm impressed with your thorough research (tbh, I wasn't very aware of the MdP's debt issue) and all the nuance you included. Loved the interviews with the professors! I've always considered the metro's biggest win to be the complete car ban on the top platform of the Dom Luiz I bridge; even if done today, that would have been incredibly controversial since that bridge is *THE* direct connection from Gaia's center to Porto's center. I wish you had covered the two new lines and the expansion plans more, as they mark a switch away from a radial model.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Thanks! Was definitely a challenge to research when I can’t speak Portuguese haha, so Manuel and Paulo were so helpful. Also definitely, I’m very impressed with how radically the Dom was changed. Would loved to have spent more time on the new plans but the video was getting long already :((

[@MrRollingEgo]

@@TheFlyingMooseCAI think people would love longer videos! But I understand this is already so much work!

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

@ thanks for the input! yeah, tough balance between duration and keeping it engaging, but glad you like it :)

[@Pepello84]

@@TheFlyingMooseCA I can only speak for myself and say that I would have gladly watched a longer video 😄 Thank you in any case for your amazing work 🙏🏻

[@discoverlight]

After marrying a Portuguese girl we moved to Porto, been living here for one and a half year and late last year we purchased an apartment right in front of the Vasco Da Gama metro station, definitely I’d say that the city revolves around the metro lines, and it really makes it easy to move around and skipping traffic light and lines specially at rush hour, however is a bit expensive for tourists buying short-term tickets and also a bit complicated, it goes by zones relative to the station you buy the ticket at, so is quite common for tourists to get fined by the metro patrols for buying tickets with the wrong zone number, but for residents is very convenient you pay €40 a month and you can use bus and metro unlimited. Such a nice surprise to find a video about the metro in my city, subscribed. Make sure you come back to check out the Rubi line and btw the pink line is supposed to start trips by mid ‘25 but it’s a 4 stops station. Cheers.

[@chrisumney1566]

I´m glad someone mentioned the zonal ticketing system. I´ve been living about an hour from Porto for six years now and pass through the city quite often. It´s very difficult to explain to guests how the whole thing with tickets works! They really could do with reassessing the system and coming up with something much more straightforward.

[@rodryguezzz]

Yeah I don't get the zone tickets either. In Lisbon you can go from any station to any station with the same ticket as long as it takes less than an hour.

[@zadarthule]

@@chrisumney1566 i hope you get something like the Deutschlandticket (lit. 'Germany ticket') in Portugal.

[@JoaoSilva-xy5ep]

It's quite expensive for tourists? Compared to what? Barcelona? Heck it's much more cheaper in porto. Compared to London? Same thing

[@TheShowCrafters]

the fining i dont agree with, spend approx 6 months in porto and always bought a z2 ticket because i couldnt be bothered to read myself into it for evena second ahhahaha

[@JkWillis]

I visited Porto about a year ago and I loved it (even though it was raining the entire time). I don't know why some people blindly criticize light rail as some inferior form of transit, when in many cases it is the most practical option.

[@eingrobernerzustand3741]

I really like your videos. Anyway, i understand the sentiment. Note that im not a city person, and that i maybe get into a city of more than 20 thousand people once a year, and to a city of 2000 people once a month. And a city of more than a million once a decade(im twenty, ive been to vienna once, and to munich once). Oh, and ive been to linz twice. Anyway this is talking as a outsider. Light rail is a mixed bag due to how much it can be watered down. I mean, Light rail can literally be streetcars. And streetcars are great, and i wouldn't know how to move through linz without them, because youd need to be absolutely insane to drive there. Assuming they got signal priority and that stuff in order, which linz has. The problems with Light rail start when they are sold as rapid transit. They can be great. But whats more likely is that you end up a system of cross city streetcars that are slower than cars. Or alternatively, some sbahn-light metro hybrid that doesn't regional well because its limited to 80 kilometers per hour, and doesn't do metro style service well because of painfully low frequencys. Anyway. Streetcars are almost always worth it for any city of more than 50 thousand people. However, as the population approaches 200 thousand people, i feel like you are better off looking towards brescia or rennes than looking towards Bonn or Frankfurt. But yea, maybe i feel that way because automated light metro incentives densification within the area accessible by subway, and ive seen way too much urban (yes, suburbs are urban. Its in the name) encroachment over the years.

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

Most people don't blindly criticise light rail. It's just that it so so often used incorrectly (including in Porto).

[@unconventionalideas5683]

Many people criticize it because it is used in contexts where it is not necessarily as suitable as some other options.

[@szurketaltos2693]

If Rennes can build light metro, so could Porto. But at this point Porto needs to work with what it has.

[@JL3001]

This video came just in time. I spent a month in Porto last year and rode the Metro a lot. It was fun walking across the Ponte Luiz I bridge and watching it go by. I miss Porto and Portugal a LOT. Great vid.

[@tyleralberico]

This channel is such a win

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

everyone who watches is the true winner 😎

[@emilianogasparian]

As an immigrant who has been living and working in Porto for 2 years, I have to say that I love the metro❤🇵🇹

[@pedromartins6810]

I am Portuguese and I take the metro everytime I go to my college classes. Sometimes I just think about how I and many are traveling above and below literal world relics just to get to school/work. And I do this all for FREE. Really nice video you got here.

[@dreimalnein22]

thank you for this great video, letting professors talk in such formats is a bold great thing by itself.

[@jointransitassociation]

W video from a W channel. Also, thanks for raising awareness at 8:14 for Queenslink!

[@Ian-wq3vg]

GOAT recognizes GOAT

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

there will be more >:)

[@TechJolt3d]

Ayyy its the JTA!

[@jointransitassociation]

@ I'm excited for that!

[@barbarabeden-hill8687]

I currently live in Porto, and you missed one of the reasons why the Metro is partially on the surface and why the tracks follow the routes they do. In the early 1900s, Porto was a combination of farmland and industry. There were multiple small railroad lines to take incoming supplies to the factories and outgoing finished goods and food to the harbor for shipping. When they were planning the Metro, these lines still existed even though they were no longer used. The current Metro lines now take advantage of many of these old lines. I learned about this from a local historian.

[@Antonio88870]

That's correct. There are a few photos online of the old train lines on what are the current metro lines. Trindade itself was a train station and was remade to become the central for the metro

[@mytakeonlife17]

If you go to ISMAI for example you go past the old Castelo da Maia station, where the old building still stands after being renovated!

[@Leorqleo]

I ride this metro every single day, to go to work in the city centre. I take the longest route the metro has, which goes for 40km. I pay 40euro a month, to cover 80km of land(both ways) in 50 minutes(each way). By car, during rush hour it would have been 1h at least. Plus I get to read for 1h40 in a day Porto Metro is class. Also might I add that professor Pinho is a legend at my uni and supposedly a great guy. Good to see people like him leading projects that affect people's lives

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Thanks for the perspective - was great chatting with professor Pinho indeed 🤓

[@ElliotBlyth]

This is gold-tier transport content - the storytelling, obvious passion and super high quality, on location production make this easily a cut above other transport content on KZbin. Keep it up!!

[@Cptn.Viridian]

Portugal mentioned!!!! For real though I think Portugal deserves way more attention than it gets, especially in the English speaking world.

[@nyxw]

Portuguese resident here. I can subscribe to this. I plan to start a YT channel focused on Portugal in the next few months for that same reason

[@Rresenden]

Caralho

[@PIRATES3D]

​@@nyxwI'm Portuguese, living near Pombal and i really support your idea. Best of Luck Brother.

[@davidkunakovsky3155]

Please no. There is already too many people in big cities of Portugal and it feels like most are expats

[@Cptn.Viridian]

@@davidkunakovsky3155 This is definitely true, although to the best of my knowledge, this is more because the Portuguese government can't keep Portuguese youth working and living in the country because the wages are absolutely awful, so most Portuguese kids take the free education and bounce to a country that actually pays decently. The Government should really focus on keeping the Portuguese in Portugal rather than bending over backwards for tourists and expats.

[@fabiomrmatos]

6:14 😂😂😂 loved the analogy for the American viewers 😂😂😂

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Gotta be inclusive

[@aidansuguitan6533]

that got an audible chuckle from me good god

[@Hahlen]

I don’t know how you have this high production value with so few subs

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

😎 tyty

[@yasaralamin1246]

Right? This is vox level production.

[@RubenFRS]

I was born in a small town outside of Porto in '91 and remember a time before the metro, the impact it had for small municipalities like mine was enormous. Me and my friends growing up used the metro to study and later work in areas it would have been unfeasible to do otherwise. We were also able to connect more effectively to the cultural center of our region and expand our friendship circles at a price us poor kids could afford. The metro changed the landscape and became such an icon I cannot imagine the city without it now, it is the artery that carries the vital substance that makes Porto the magical place it is, it's people.

[@fabiosoares4450]

I learned more about Porto's metro system watching this video than in all my life as a local.

[@Ian-wq3vg]

best videon on light-metro construction history and economics in an Iberian nation I've seen all year

[@billify23455]

I live in Vila do Conde, roughly 45 minutes north of Porto. Thanks to this wonderful Metro system, I have access to Porto. It is clean, safe and very reasonably priced. It is a major advantage of living in the greater Porto, Portugal metropolitan area.

[@BrockN]

Your content deserves so much more love, keep up the great work 🔥

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Really appreciate it, thanks for watching!

[@aleksandrkochergov162]

This video randomly popped up on my feed and I am now hooked on your content. The video quality and the amount of interesting facts mixed with bits of high-quality journalism made me subscribe instantly. Keep up the good work, man! Also forward this to your team, in case you're not the only guy behind this channel :)

[@asahiorbit4565]

As a creative and an aspiring public servant, I look at these videos and learn quite a lot on how to serve my people well, and learn from transit and urban planning mistakes as well. The information is presented simply, and with humour at times. Great content, a plus that I have a big fat crush on the host 😅

[@synthx0]

As a local i had no idea about how complex of a project building the Porto Metro was, I definitely took the metro for granted. Thanks for all the insight and presenting it in such a well structured video.

[@W333L]

The fact that Portugal of all places with a fraction of the GDP and some of the worst city topography in the north was somehow able to beat 90% of the US to light rail is fucking depressing

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Could be inspiring depending on how much cope you have 😎

[@andiogocastro]

Born and raised in Porto here. Lived in this city without the Metro and went through all of its phases. This video is spectacularly done and conveys a sense of pride even Porto’s habitants don’t have. Thank you for capturing the relentless (and reckless) will of the Portuense people ❤️ quite literally “esta merda ou vai ou racha”

[@_catx_9106]

I cannot imagine my life without Porto metro. I use it all the time and this new plans to expand the metro in Gaia is super interesting is definitely gonna be a game changer for the city.

[@qmechkeys]

wake up babe, the flying moose uploaded

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

congrats you r the first

[@qmechkeys]

​@@TheFlyingMooseCAposted from the Acela

[@qmechkeys]

​@@TheFlyingMooseCAI commented and watched from Acela First Class

[@arreié]

Shhhh 🤫 she's sleeping With me 😉

[@SwordQuake2]

@@arreié the only thing sleeping with you are the spiders in your basement

[@Connn]

Thanks for this video. My father in law actually worked on building the first metro lines and it is why him and my wife's family moved from Brazil to Portugal. Special project for us ❤️

[@Edexote]

There's absolutely no one in the entire country that says the Porto Metro should not have been built. Debt, or no debt. It was that good of a decision.

[@Antonio88870]

I see some people complaining over the constant construction zones but without those, there would be no metro and no development

[@ricar144]

Seeing this video on my feed after previously seeing your Ontario Line video is really nice as someone who was born in Gaia and grew up in Toronto. As a kid, I spent the summer with family in Gaia in 2008 and I loved riding the Porto Metro. The view riding over the bridge was spectacular and I was simply fascinated with riding on a fast modern tram. Fare payments were done on a smart card as opposed to tickets/tokens/metropasses in that time. There were no fare gates in the stations. Compared to what I was familiar with in Toronto, I got a taste of what transit *could* be.

[@lost_porkchop]

I was born in Lisbon but grew up in Toronto. I want to hate Porto as much as every other Lisbonite, but finally visited two years ago and I'll admit that it's actually a pretty nice place.

[@1mikevest]

As a relatively new resident to Porto, and someone who is fascinated by history and public transport, I LOVED this video. Great work! Excited to subscribe to your channel.

[@miguelmonteiro1981]

As a Portuguese from the Lisbon Met. Area I loved the video! Visited Porto several times and always used the "Metro", thanks for the video and the historical background!

[@zemiguel8261]

tira lá as aspas amigo

[@yezzispapi]

@@zemiguel8261 ele usou aspas porque o termo metro está tradicionalmente associado com rapid transit e o metro do Porto como mencionado é mais um light rail, elétrico no centro e mix entre elétrico e comboio na linha da Póvoa

[@zemiguel8261]

@@yezzispapi eu sei, mas não deixa de ser um metro, metro vem de metropolitano, não de heavy rail mas yah

[@manuelwong3275]

Hello, thanks for making a video about Porto, the mighty algorithm has brought me here! I have been living in Porto for 6 years and I agree what Prof. Dr. Paulo Pinho said at the end of the video, I cannot even fathom what Porto would've looked like without the Metro system. It certainly is not perfect and would be wonderful to have extended routes (V.N. Gaia, Foz, etc.). The car and bus issues within the city center is always constant and one still simply cannot get anywhere in time during rush hours (let's say, from Aliados to Lordelo),. Nevertheless, the existence of Metro do relief the stress of transits for students like me and allows us to live further from transit hotspots without the preocupation of extended commute time. And lastly, at least Metro do Porto is way better than the Lisbon iron sheet wagon ;)

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Thanks for sharing your perspective, glad you enjoyed :) and iron sheet wagon lol

[@cesarneves]

Cool video you got here! This brought back many memories. I currently live in the center of Porto but grew up outside (still in the metropolitan area). When I was in university i had to go to Gaia daily, just across the bridge so I used to take the train to São Bento Station and then walk by the bridge. This was before the metro was built, actually during it`s construction around 2000/2001. I remember clearly walking across the bridge (it still was used by cars) and seeing the construction of the nearby Infante bridge, which is an enginneering marvel by itself as it is only supported on both ends (the archis mainly decorative). I remember the city without metro (and tourists :D ) and the metro blended in so nicely and is such a huge part of living in this city that whenever there`s a strike, it`s chaos! I`m also excited by the new Ruby line as it will bring the new (and 7th) bridge to the city.

[@ngantunes]

Congratulations on the excellent approach to getting to know the cities: well structured and very well documented. From the historical context to the actual implementation of the Metro, we get an insight into the undertaking that was building the Porto Metro. Excellent work. I'll be following your work.

[@stephenspackman5573]

I've only been to Porto once, many decades ago, but I really loved it. It's great to see this system. Thanks for showing us!

[@memeabledata]

Excellent video! I was hoping to make a video myself about this topic one day, but watching this video makes me feel like there's nothing more to add. Great journalism.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

not at all, there's always more to the story 🤓

[@JeffDvrx]

dude. how.the.fuck. am I only now finding your channel? this aligns perfectly with one of the types of contents I consume the most of. It's like the algorithm deliberately kept you from my recommendations for some reason. Instant sub, this video was great - both the content and the edition. You're doing amazing, looking forward to watch more

[@thatguyoverthere9705]

Yeah, I found this just now as well. Amazing channel and exactly what I’m looking for

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Really glad you enjoyed - see you in the next one!

[@hugoribeiro1546]

I subscribed now and Im thinking exactly the same 😅

[@gearzx]

Insane video, much love from Porto and I really hope you enjoyed your time here and thank you for taking the time and effort to doing this! I guess it's paying off tho, 223k in 3 days is absolutely insane to such a small country as Portugal!

[@tomasbarbosa8654]

The video is verry good as well as the research, however, you just missed the fact that the line from Trindade to Povoa (line B) and the line from Trindade do Maia (line C) were metre gauge railway lines. Also, parts of line A, to Matosinhos and line D, to Gaia, were once tram lines. The tram also used to go to Gondomar (now served by buses) and ran through the center of Avenida da Boavista (that line is now beeing reopened as a terrybly planned BRT). At the end of the day, the metro was just a concequence of negleting old infrastructure. Instead of electrifing the rail network, bying new rolling stock and closing streets in the city center to accelerate trams, like other cities did, we bored expencive tunnels for low capacity vehicles and turned trams into a tourist attraction. I do think a tunnel from Trindade to Campanhã was necessary, but should be a train tunnel for the meter gauge trains. The result was a system thet tries to hard to be a Metro, a Train and a Tram, while failing at beeing so. Sadly, the history is repeating itself. Last weekend, Coimbra, another city in Portugal, just lost it's old central station so that the corridor can become part of a BRT network. That beeing said, I think the video is genuinely good, and in Porto the Metro is gennerally considered a success, I just think that we could have gotten something better for that heavy price tag. The economics part was really interesting and something that I have never heard about (I mean I wasn't even born at that time). Sorry for the massive comment, I get that your video was about the showig our determination of getting the thing built and despite the criticism transit is a good thing.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Definitely true that there were a lot of “missed turns” so to speak, and yeah the tram train does straddle an awkward divide at times. Thanks for the thoughtful comment as well, it helps us all learn more!

[@FinleyArbor]

As this website gets unindated with video creators who just slap together a video with nothing but stock footage and text copied from articles, it's great to see people putting in the effort to set up original interviews and shoot on locations. Great work

[@adeadbush]

Very high quality video for a 50k subscriber account, definitely thought this channel was in the millions at first

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Thank you 😊 it was 35k before this video haha

[@PedroMarques-l2k]

As someone who is portuguese and lives in a portuguese city. I have never experienced Porto's metro system, but I regularly used Lisbon's about a decade ago. I do not know it's condition nowadays, but back then I had absolutely no complaint about Lisbon's metro system. Train's would arrive every 5 to 10 minutes and there were rarilly problems in the railways, at least in the lines that I used. I would say that both lines are good and efficient.

[@DanielKyne]

Lisbon's metro is still pretty great! Max waiting time on any metro line during a normal day is 8 minutes, they're extending one of the lines into a ring-system opening at the start of 2026 and have plans to extend multiple of the other lines to service more neighbourhoods. You 100% are never waiting an hour for one like Charlie's cousin said in this video.

[@karnadyjuan]

im not a metro or rail "fans" but also not a subscriber of this channel.. but im happy i stumble into this video, it makes me want to go to Porto... the city looks unique and beautiful !

[@greek9244]

I absolutely love Porto and the metro, it was very surprising when I visited last year (as my friend is Brazilian/Portuguese and never even mentioned the metro), so I was shocked to see how a metro could even be built in such a city!

[@thelusogerman3021]

Always glad to see my city get some recognition, I use that metro regularly to go to FC Porto games Love from (greater) Porto, Matosinhos❤️

[@dinissilvalobo]

I've lived in Porto my whole life, i cannot describe how useful the metro is for young people to travel around the city, not to mention that view from bridge, it still amazes me everytime.

[@bobpeckham7313]

As one who has lived in Porto for only five years, I find your analysis to be fascinating... the Metro is indeed fantabulous, and I could never have said why this little city could have done it. Parabéns, e obrigado!

[@bartekmalinowski]

I lived in Porto for a while and I genuinely can't stress how amazing the metro system is, especially since Porto is NOT a huge city at all. Getting around town is simple, easy and efficient.

[@MaxProduction16]

Great vid! Ironic use of the blueprint at 4:48 considering that it was a proposed design for Melbourne Australia, and never got built. We only got low floor trams two decades later.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Good eye 😉 it was just the schematic that happened to show the kinda side profile I wanted haha

[@vcalblas]

This is the first video I stumbled across from this channel. I just want to say I'm blown away by its high quality. Well done, Mr Flying Moose!

[@doisti-kun]

I'm glad you enjoyed my work :) the video was fantastic! Lot's of research and interesting facts/information! keep up the good work!!!

[@takeajokelikeag7767]

i'm surprised you don't have 1mil subscribers cause the amount of effort you put into your videos is insane

[@smallstudiodesign]

Went to Porto and Lisbon earlier last year - wonderful cities - perfect in May-June. Love both cities.

[@TheVicenteSilva]

I'm a frequent user of the metro, this video has been super informative! I have a lot of love for the metro

[@captainmakai]

Glad someone’s talking about this, I was blown away how good this city and transport is!

[@eoleite]

Some of the Metro line was actually converted from the old train line Porto had. The Senhora da Hora station was originally a train station. The white house that has the ticket office and a small caffe was the ticket office and machinist room. It still has the original clock and the plates that showed the train destination

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Yep, that was a huge accelerator in getting this up and running

[@BruzoBlitz1887]

By the way, before porto metro there was a narrow gauge railway called Linha do Porto Póvoa é Familicão! Which was originally built in 1875 but demolished in 2001 for said Metro Porto which is honestly a shame, and the ironic line where the metro goes on top of the Pont Dom Luis I there was originally a tramline!

[@markkajc]

Its a great system, both urban, suburban and semi rural parts. I rode the entire thing last summer

[@tobiasq.deneef3858]

KZbin has been recommending me to watch this for the last 5 days, finally watched it and wow! what an amazing channel, how have I never come across it before?? immediate subscribe

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

haha glad you enjoyed - see you in the next one!

[@kancelas]

As a daily user of the system, i have to say, there's still a lot to be done, specially in the outskirts and the suburbs, back in 2012, when i was still in school in Porto, i still had to drive to the nearest metro station and hope a parking spot was available, and the travel time was still 90 minutes. The Metro line hasn't expanded since then, but it's nice to hear it's still expanding, unfortunately it's not coming to where i live anytime some, because the Mayor is, reportedly, the only one that doesn't want the Metro coming to town, despite spending serious money developing the city center, and outskirts.

[@WebVid]

Extremely well done! Informative, nicely shot, excellent graphics, professional delivery. Looking forward to the next one.

[@hainish2381]

When I was in College there was no Metro in Porto. The change in quality of living is really high. Whole areas around Porto became safer, cleaner and better to live at. And it takes just 10, 20 minutes to get to the center of the city, with no issues.

[@rodrigocabrita6874]

Amazing content, I was not expecting on becoming this invested on the Metro system on the other side of my country. Makes me kinda think about the Lisbon one, I use it daily and I got say it is pretty good in terms of time and pontuality ( unlike the mess that the trains are), but it's always the stage for some controversy, mostle now that its growing even more. Now I want to go to Porto even more and I want to see the metro more than the monuments

[@themodernviriato9383]

Great video! I'm from a city close to Porto. With a 100k population and doesn't even have a train connection or station, so the only way to get places is driving or bus. As you can imagine, makes every trip way longer than it should be. The metro in Porto is very convenient, cheap and well maintained. But it seems to me that it will be our last one. Because even tho cities like Braga are growing at incredible rates, the government is choosing to invest in BRT buses or as they call it "MetroBus" instead of actual light rails or metro. Its really depressing. I dont know if you have done so, but I would recommend a video on Warsaw Tram and Metro rails. The city has been doing so well. Makes me jealous hahah

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Would love to cover those and thanks for sharing!

[@MJofLakelandX]

With this level of production, I think you'll do perfectly fine on KZbin. Loved everything from this.

[@MNi_86]

Bro, you need more subscribers for the good work you're doing!

[@coolking49]

Love your content, you have some of the best editing I've seen on youtube. Also after visiting Lisbon this year, Porto is undoubtedly better.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Glad you enjoyed - definitely love editing these :)

[@le0norr]

as a fellow metro do porto lover and a public transportation enthusiast, thank you for this 🙏

[@qingyangzhang6093]

12:20 Factoring in the exorbitant interest rates, 70 km of semi-metro in this Portuguese town full of protected medieval buildings cost €3.5 billion as of 2007, or over 7.5 billion CAD as of 2025. In comparison, 19 km of Toronto's Eglinton LRT Phase 1 cost over 13 billion CAD so far, with no opening date in sight after 4 years behind schedule.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Quite remarkable on both ends wouldn’t you say 😂

[@user-ke3ed5pq6z]

Downtown Porto and the river front are UNESCO world heritage site. There are buildings in out city older then the age of north América coutries combined. We like to keep it just the way it is. So, ther's that. Then, like was showcased in the video, the geology makes it terribly dificult and even more costly to build it all underground.

[@DanielSantos-pg4sg]

Amazing production and content, and thank you for the interviews! It's informative and refreshing.

[@lindsaynugent9310]

Love your content topics, production value, and the engagement/advocacy/educational aspects of your channel!

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

Thanks a lot :)

[@KikoFSF]

Watching this video while riding the "MdP", great video bro, congratulations

[@codykodina8428]

Loving your channel so far!

[@rehanpoonawalla7406]

one of my most favorite transport/city planning channels has posted again

[@suppncasper]

Lived in porto for Erasmus last year, just an incredible city

[@Canadianinvesting]

Porto is beautiful and the metro was great. I was there for 4 days in 2024 and walking/metro were the only necessary means to enjoy the area.

[@tiagofssampaio]

That might sound cliche, but a foreign youtuber explained the Porto Metropolitan Area issue better than our media (traditional and non-traditional). I live in Gaia, so I know the traffic and metro issues very closely. Great video!

[@_Azurael_]

Portuguese from Porto here. I use the metro every day to get to work. I used it to go to the university before that. The worst part is defenitly the overlap of lines in Porto's center. I now live in Gondomar, and the metro frequency in this area is around 8~12 min depending on the hour.... The problem is they can't improve frequency, without causing problems in the overlapped area of coverage. However, this means in Porto's Center we get metro's every single minute. The second biggest problem is Gaia, on the other side of the River... The bridges are always full of cars! And the single central line is not enough. I hope the new metro line + bridge will help with that. But it will take some years to see it done.

[@alphamanticore2344]

as someone from the Porto metropolitan area, I do completly agree it's the best mode of transportation, it just needs futher expansion to cover the denser areas better and of course an expansion further south (11:10 shows it well)

[@renotanumber]

ridiculously great documentary for such small amount of subscribers, You deserve 2M+. BTW as a frequest user of this “metro”, i loved the detailed report.

[@TheFlyingMooseCA]

glad you enjoyed :)

[@albertobarbosa9437]

Great video, I lived in Gaia for 9 years and used the Metro a lot, even if it didn't reached the area where I lived, but I would use it to get around the city center. There's just one small mistake: the bridge isn't called Dom Luiz but Luiz I. The reigning King it was named after didn't attend the inauguration, despite being invited, so thery removed the honorific Dom from the name of the bridge out of spite. But that's a common mistake that even people that lived in Porto all their lives make.

[@PSNDonutDude]

I literally just got back from visiting Porto this past summer from Canada! We went to the tram museum (which was ironically hard to get to by transit, we walked because the tourist tram was expensive and packed). The "Metro" was taken once, and it was so late and confusing to buy tickets. There was a random homeless guy helping people buy tickets (appreciate you dude). Really needs to keep working on it. Don't even get me started on Lisbon. I'm so mad at Lisbon's transit. Sitting in the sun for over an hour while the tram service was cancelled with no communication and everyone ended up taking Ubers.

[@caskadestudio]

Damn dude you have instantly earned yourself a subscriber in me, production quality is incredible and love the content!

[@EasyToLoveHardToHate]

I went on Erasmus in Porto in 2016 and loved the metro. Going surfing in Matisinhos or going to the city centre to meet friends or party was so easy. Even during the night I could take a bus or tram every hour. I really miss that reliability.

[@fff4583]

1:25 No, I cannot imagine that in the 12th century, that's a train station built at the end of the 19th century. The structure's made of steel...

[@jonytube]

It was literally built in the 12th century.

[@S_Carol]

Meh, not his fault your imagination is lacking... (Funny thing is, if the dude had turned 90 degrees to the right he could've filmed the actual 12th century cathedral 😂)

[@killaknight12]

I studied in Karlsruhe, Germany and I loved being able to roam the city and connected towns in a timely manner, without the need of a car, thanks to the tram network. Recently, they managed to get a big chunk of the rails underground making more room for people in the shopping areas.

[@pydotcodotpt]

I'm from Porto, and I can confirm that the Metro do Porto system has changed the way we move around the city and it's suburbs, and in general we have a sense of pride.

[@jacnel]

Quite an interesting video. I noticed some parallels between Provo and the Region of Waterloo when it came to deciding how and where to build their LRT. Including cost concerns. Although, the Region of Waterloo didn’t have any of the financial problems, which is good lol. Waterloo has also seen impressive ridership with their system, exceeding expected demand. Much like Porto they just got it done. Great work as always! This video feels so professional, it’s like a documentary I’d watch in theatre.

[@afulker]

Love the Porto metro. One of the best I've used. And a great trip across the bridge