BRT Porto: Pensamento crítico sobre o metrobus Boavista-Império

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the Boavista-Império Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, promoted by Metro do Porto, S.A, whose public tender was launched in July 2021 and whose experimental operation began on 28 February 2026. The analysis is conducted from the perspective of one of the competing teams in the tender process, with no intention of providing an exhaustive assessment of the submitted proposal from a design standpoint, but rather to highlight a possible response to the competition requirements, raising questions about its adequacy and relevance in relation to the technical premises defined and the urban space the intervention traverses. The work is organised around three complementary methodological axes, comprising the critical reading of the competition documents and the submitted proposal, the chronological tracking of the changes verified between the project put to tender and the executed intervention, and the analysis of the planning instruments and governance dynamics that framed the process. The dissertation begins with the historical, morphological and heritage contextualization of the Boavista axis and Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa, followed by an analysis of the evolution of public transport in this corridor, from animal traction to light rail. The analysis of the competition process focuses on the competition documents and the submitted proposal, including a critical reflection on the programmatic options and alternatives (Proposal B). The post-competition chapter documents the changes verified between the project put to tender and the executed intervention, as well as its impact on the public and political sphere, through various news articles and institutional publications. The final chapter analyses the governance dynamics between the agents involved and the planning instruments. This dissertation seeks to contribute to critical reflection on the processes of implementing public transport systems in public space, documenting the distance between planning intentions and the executed result, and questioning whether the introduction of a new means of mobility constitutes, or not, an opportunity for integrated urban renewal, through the analysis of the case study.