Hydrogen Metrobus on Porto's Boavista Avenue Faces Sudden Halt

Few transport projects have generated so much heat ­— and now, so much uncertainty — as the second phase of Porto’s Metrobus corridor along Avenida da Boavista. A fortnight after excavators moved in, the work has been halted for what the operator calls a “technical time-out”. Officials insist the pause will be brief, finances remain safe and no trees will be felled in the meantime. Yet commuters, neighbourhood groups and Portuguese taxpayers are left wondering when the new hydrogen-powered vehicles will finally roll.

A pause that startled an election-season Porto

The stop-order landed on 3 October, only 11 days after crews began widening the 4.5 km stretch between Rua Jorge Reinel and Anémona. Metro do Porto’s freshly appointed chairman, Emídio Gomes, framed the decision as a moment to “look under the bonnet” before pouring fresh concrete. Behind the mild wording lies a politically charged backdrop: candidates vying for City Hall had spent weeks blasting the project for tree removals, a narrowed cycle path and perceived rush-job planning. By freezing the site, the state-owned company neutralised campaign noise while buying time to revisit design details.

Environmental flashpoints and legal cross-checks

Activists counted more than 400 plane and linden trees marked for the chainsaw, igniting a petition that swiftly topped 10 000 signatures. Critics argued that the carbon-cutting promise of hydrogen buses rings hollow if mature greenery disappears first. Lawyers retained by City Hall flagged possible conflicts with Lei de Bases do Ambiente and municipal zoning rules. For Metro do Porto, the safest route was to erect fencing, keep one security guard per block and open the blueprints for a second round of compliance vetting. Engineers will now reassess drainage, pavement thickness and the alignment of the dedicated busway, hoping to prove that a rapid-transit lane and an urban canopy can coexist.

Brussels money: still on the table, but the clock is ticking

Because the €66 M contract taps the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (PRR/NextGenerationEU), rumours spread that any delay could drain coffers. The operator counters that a January addendum already pushed the eligible-spending deadline to 31 December 2025, leaving a 15-month cushion. Sources in the Finance Ministry confirmed to our newsroom that so long as invoices keep flowing before that date, “no cent will be clawed back”. The bigger danger, experts say, is inflation: every extra month idling may add 2-3 % to materials and labour costs, all borne by the national purse if Brussels ceilings are exceeded.

Mobility impact on Porto’s west side

For motorists cruising Boavista, the interruption is almost a relief: cones have been removed and the usual two lanes are open. Public-transport riders, however, lose out on the promise of a 12-minute hop between Casa da Música and Praça do Império and a 17-minute ride to the seafront sculpture Anémona. Until the hydrogen fleet debuts, passengers must stick with STCP route 500, a line that routinely crawls in summer traffic. Urban-planning researchers at the University of Porto warn that every month of delay locks in another 600 t of CO₂ emissions and roughly 70 000 additional private-car trips.

Meanwhile, Matosinhos and Maia push ahead

Ten kilometres north, bulldozers are busy on a separate but similarly branded Metrobus Matosinhos-Maia line. That €23 M venture, financed largely by municipal coffers, promises 11 stops linking the fish market, Exponor and Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in 25 minutes. Local mayor Luísa Salgueiro touts it as compensation for the shuttered Galp refinery and a pillar of her city’s net-zero-by-2030 roadmap. Unlike Porto’s corridor, the Matosinhos project enjoys broad acceptance: no tree-felling controversy and a design that overlays existing bus lanes, sparing cyclists their tarmac.

What comes next — and when?

Metro do Porto refuses to commit to a restart date, saying only that the “technical audit” will wrap up before year-end. Insiders hint that revised drawings should take four weeks, public-comment another two, and renegotiated construction permits perhaps a month more. If that schedule holds, diggers could return early in 2026, keeping the PRR timetable intact. Yet political winds may shift after the municipal ballot; a new council could either green-light the tweaked blueprint or demand further changes. For now, the orange safety mesh remains, the avenue’s plane trees stand unharmed, and the city’s commuters wait for the hum of zero-emission buses they can finally board.