“We don’t know anyone else with the idea of having totally electric public transport, and in principle, we’ll be the first Portuguese city to do so,” the mayor of Évora, Carlos Pinto de Sá, boasted in talks with Lusa in February.

In the Central Alentejo Intermunicipal Community (CIM), the Support Program for Lowered Fares on Public Transport (PART) allows residents of the constituent councils to make use of a 60% discount on interurban bus tickets and a 40% discount on train passes. The urban pass prices have gone down by 55% on average, with the urban shuttles now costing 10.86€, the blue line 10.29€ and the combined pass 13.15€.

The CIM is made up of the municipalities of Alandroal, Arraiolos, Borba, Estremoz, Évora, Montemor-o-Novo, Mora, Mourão, Portel, Redondo, Reguengos de Monsaraz, Vendas Novas, Viana do Alentejo and Vila Viçosa.


Since 2016, decarbonisation support for public transport fleets in the country have totalled 154.7 million euros, 106.7 of which were financed by the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficiency in Resource Use (Poseur) and 48 million by the Recovery and Resilience Program (PRR).

These supports allowed the acquisition of 1134 green-energy buses, 558 of which are electric or hydrogen-powered and 562 being powered by biogas, as well as their respective charging/fuelling stations. Part of the PRR’s project is to reinforce the decarbonisation aspect of the guideline document, which permits the financing of at least 200 more zero-emission buses.