Coimbra's metrobus system expands this Thursday to Coimbra-B and Praça da República, in an operation that forces deep changes in circulation in Coimbra's Baixa. Rua da Sofia will operate in one direction only and is reserved for public transport and local access for traders and residents. Avenida D. Sesnando Davides will also have restricted access to buses and local access, while Rua da Saragoça will operate only in the downward direction.
The changes affect more than 20 lines of the Municipal Services of Urban Transport of Coimbra (SMTUC), which estimate that 14% of their daily passengers will be impacted by the network alterations. The reconfiguration of lines has the philosophy of avoiding overlap of services with the metrobus offering, with more transfers between the two types of transport expected.
The interfaces connecting metrobus and SMTUC services will be Arnado, Praça da República and Estádio/Solum. At Arnado, users will have to walk five minutes to the nearest stop, while at Solum the walking transfer takes three minutes.
Given the scale of the changes, which have been criticized by the opposition, the municipality launched an information campaign available at www.cm-coimbra.pt/comovou, also recommending that drivers use applications such as Waze or Google Maps to calculate the best possible route.
