The new public cable car in Gaia will connect Pedras Amarelas beach, in Canidelo, to the future Arrábida metro station, the mayor announced in a video published on social media.

According to the video published on 5 July, the new connection in question will use this mode of transport, with stations at Pedras Amarelas beach, Lavadores beach, Douro Marina, Segundo Cais da Afurada, Jardins da Arrábida, and Arrábida.

Roadway requalification

The current road junction in Jardins da Arrábida/Chãs will be requalified to accommodate the cable car station, whose route will end at the Arrábida metro station on the Ruby Line of the Porto Metro (Casa da Música - Santo Ovídio), currently under construction.

For now, no costs have been disclosed, but the mayor of Gaia, Luís Filipe Menezes, says in the video that the project will be presented this week and that the public tender will be launched by August.

Integrated into the transport network

Menezes says that the system will be integrated into the Andante Intermodal system, which is not the case with the current cable car in the municipality, which connects Jardim do Morro to Cais de Gaia and has a round-trip cost of 10 euros for adults and 5 euros for children.

In Porto, the Guindais Funicular and the Lada Elevator can be used by those with an Andante monthly pass, though occasional tickets are more expensive than those on the Andante pass.

The project for the new cable car in Gaia was not explicitly mentioned in the electoral program of the then-mayoral candidate - which referred to the study of "different vertical pedestrian mobility systems" to "intelligently overcome the terrain" - but at the inauguration ceremony, Luís Filipe Menezes had already announced his intention to launch a tender for a cable car between Devesas and Canidelo.

"Around 40,000 people will benefit from a transport system that can get them to the metro in less than 10 minutes. This tender will be launched by the end of this year, and I hope that in the next year and a half to two years it can be inaugurated by His Excellency the Bishop of Porto," he said in November.

In the video about this cable car connection, the mayor also says that another public cable car project will be presented in the future, but this time "for the interior of the municipality."