FAQ - Porto Urban trains

There are staff at the ticket offices who can give you information about tickets and train times. You can also find information here or through the Contacts.

The Oporto urban trains work in an integrated system with other forms of transport, allowing quick, convenient connections. There are connections with the following operators:

• Metro do Porto – Porto São Bento, Oporto Campanhã, Gaia (General Torres);
• STCP - Porto São Bento, Porto Campanhã, Gaia (General Torres), Gaia (Devesas), Valadares, Contumil, Rio Tinto, Águas Santas/Palmilheira, Ermesinde, Cabeda, Suzão and Valongo;
• TUB – Braga, Ferreiros, Mazagão, Aveleda, Tadim, Ruílhe and Arentim;
• TUF – Famalicão;
• TUG – Guimarães;
• TUST – Santo Tirso;
• A. V. Murtosa / Transdev – Estarreja;
• AveiroBus – Aveiro, Cacia.

You can also use one of the 64 car parks, most of which are free.

You need an electronic card to hold the tickets or pass.

Remember! You cannot travel with an empty card.

The Oporto urban trains have a ticketing system where the tickets are held on electronic contactless cards. There are two kinds of cards:

The Siga card - which lets you hold occasional tickets for up to 31 journeys and when you buy 10 full-price tickets you get one more for free. It is valid for a single holder on each journey.

The Siga Assinatura card - is a personal and unalienable plastic card that can hold monthly passes and occasional tickets (requires prior activation).

This card lets you:

• Alter your journey without having to get a new card.
• Have passes for two consecutive months and to the same or different origins and destinations.
• Recover the pass if the card is damaged or lost if you show proof of the tickets it held, just paying the price of the new card.

The occasional tickets are:

• Full-price - for Customers in general;
• Half-price - for children aged 4 to 12 inclusive, everyone aged 65 or over or Retirees/Pensioners who have a 'Cartão Dourado';
• Quarter-price - for people with ID from entities that have the right to this reduction such as Portuguese police officers.

Passengers who have the right to half- or quarter-price tickets must always show a document that proves they have this right (only the original or authenticated photocopies are accepted).

The occasional tickets are:

• Normal - for Customers in general;
• Youth - for children/youths aged between 4 and 25 inclusive;
• Student 4_18 - for non-university students aged between 4 and 18 inclusive who are beneficiaries of School Social Action brackets "A" or "B" or who are members of families that are eligible/beneficiaries of Passe Social + and are not covered by School Transport;
• Student Sub 23 - for students aged up to 23 inclusive who attend higher education;

The Pass card is on sale from the following ticket offices:

Oporto São Bento, Porto Campanhã, Ermesinde, Trofa, Famalicão, Nine, Braga, Guimarães, Recarei-Sobreira, Cête, Paredes, Penafiel, Caíde, Marco de Canaveses, Vila Nova de Gaia (Devesas), Valadares, Espinho, Ovar, Estarreja and Aveiro.

Siga cards can be bought and topped up at the ticket offices mentioned at the ticket vending machines or the Oporto urban train external service providers.

If there is no other place to buy a ticket in or within 200 metres of the station, you can buy the ticket on board but you must speak to the ticket inspector immediately.

No. The Siga cards are reusable. Do not throw them away after your journey.

No. The Siga card can only be used by one person at a time.

Yes. What is important is that you top it up with the number of journeys you want, one or more, for a specific route and then it does not matter which way you travel.

Children aged between 4 and 12 inclusive travel for half price if they show a valid ID document.

Children up to age 3 inclusive can travel for free if they are accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket and do not occupy a seat. If they do occupy a seat they have to pay a half-price ticket.

You need:

General documents

• Presentation of an official identification document: ID / Citizen's card, other official identification document (passport, driver's licence (Portuguese citizens) residence authorisation or certified photocopy of these documents;
• Recent, original, colour photograph with a plain background, with the head uncovered and no dark glasses - except in specific, duly justified reasons.

Specific documents

4_18 and Sub23 passes

Students who are school social action beneficiaries:

• 4_18 or Sub23 declaration valid for the school year being started (issued by the school)

Students who are members of families who are eligible/beneficiaries of Passe Social +:

• 4_18 declaration valid for the school year being started (issued by the school)
• Photocopy of tax number card
• Request for access to Social + bracket along with:
  • Copy of last tax return (Model 3) and the payment note or declaration from the proper finance ministry entities that certify that you are dispensed from presenting the income declaration when applicable;
  • A declaration from the social security and solidarity ministry identifying the members of the applicant's household and their welfare payments.

The copies of the documents must be accompanied by the originals for checking.

Yes.
For instance: if in the middle of the month you want to change your pass by increasing the number of zones (Porto São Bento/Ermesinde to Porto São Bento/Trofa), you just have to go to a CP ticket office and ask for the alteration and pay the added number of zones and the fee for changing the origin and destination.

Before beginning your journey, regardless of your card and no more than 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time of your train. You do not need to validate your card again if you change trains.

Use the card readers in the stations.

If one card reader is out of service you must go to the nearest validator that is working.

You can validate the card no more than 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time of your train.

Hold the card close to the validator less than 10 cm from the black circle.

If the green light comes on the validation is correct. You will hear a sound and the display on the validator shows your balance.

If the red light comes on the validation is not correct. You will hear a different sound and the display on the validator shows the reason.

When you validate your ticket you can calmly read the message that appears on the validator display. All you need to do is hold your card in front of the black circle for a few more seconds.

You must always validate your ticket or pass.

Don't fear trying to validate the card various times in a row if you have any difficulty.

After the first correct validation a new journey will only be discounted after 15 minutes and only in the case of occasional tickets.

Validation is mandatory! Not validating the card is an unnecessary risk.

Under Law 28/2006 of 1 July, not having a ticket, refusing to show a ticket or having an invalid ticket is punished with a fine of between €120 and €350.

You don't need to take the card out of your wallet to validate it. However, it is advisable if you have more than one contactless ticket. Otherwise there is the risk that the validator will validate (and consume the balance) of all the cards, of the card it recognises first (which may not be the one you want) or none of them may be validated and you therefore run all the risks that are inherent.

The Siga card is not personal so it can be used by anybody.

But remember... Each card can only be used by one person at a time.

The Siga Assinatura cards can only be used by the holder.

Go to a ticket office or use the ticket vending machines in the stations.

It is very simple to use the ticket vending machines to see the balance: just put the card in the reader are there will be a message showing you the balance.

You can also see the balance when you validate it. All you need to do is hold your card in front of the black circle for a few more seconds.

Go to a ticket office as quickly as possible to deactivate the card and ask for a new card to be issued and the pass transferred over (it is not possible to recover occasional tickets). This means you will need to buy a new card.

The card has a two-year guarantee against electric faults and factory defects as of the date it is issued so CP will exchange the card so long as it is in a good state of repair, i.e. there is no visible damage such as scratches, cracks, cuts, folds or any other signs of improper use.

Go to a ticket office to swap over the balances immediately in the following situations:

• the card lets the balance be read on the card readers;
• when there is the record of a validation in the last 15 minutes;
• the passenger has a receipt of the transaction less than 30 minutes old.

In the other situations the anomaly will be recorded in the system and the swap over is made after seven days if there are tickets available.

Porto São Bento and Porto Campanhã have automatic luggage lockers where you can conveniently store your bags.

You can take your bike at no extra cost any day and at any time. However, the following conditions must be met:

• Each passenger can only take one bike.
• CP is not liable for any damage caused to the bike and/or third parties during the transport.
• The passenger is responsible for getting the bike on and off the train.
• The bikes must be transported so as not to block the doors and not hinder other passengers getting on or off the train.
• Passengers cannot cycle in the stations, concourses and under or over passes.
• Bikes can only be carried in the carriages that are identified for this purpose.

Electric bikes are also allowed (maximum power of 0.25 KW) so long as the size / space it occupies (not considering the battery) is similar to a conventional bike.

The ticket inspector may refuse the transport whenever the train's capacity is filled and more bikes are not advisable as they could possibly cause damage or injuries of may disturb the service.

You can take your pet on the Porto urban trains for free.

However there are some conditions that must be met

The Oporto urban trains have seats reserved for customers with special needs regardless of whether they are temporary or permanent. There are also stations that have been adapted to simplify the movement of these customers given their reduced mobility.

CP has a service specially for Customers with Special Needs that is available 24 hours a day. See the conditions to use the Integrated Mobility Service (IMS) and the discounts for the disabled.

Anything the CP staff find or that is handed in is kept for 30 days during which time they can be searched for at any ticket office, where they will tell you about how and where to pick it up. After that period of time, depending on the nature and state of repair, the items will be eliminated, donated to social solidarity institutions or poor families or handed over to the police (the list can be consulted on the internet at perdidoseachados.mai.gov.pt or any police station).

In the case of items that deteriorate quickly the time limit is reduced to 24 hours. After that period they are given to social solidarity institutions or poor families, or they are destroyed if they may put people's health at risk.

Whenever the abandoned packages or items are suspect or contain substances or objects that may be considered dangerous or illicit, the police are contacted to take over.

Items can only be handed over or information given about their locations once it has been unequivocally proven who they belong to through a detailed description of the lost and found item by the person claiming it.

The Porto urban trains have a service with special discounts and free journeys for group travel with a minimum of 10 children or 10 adults. We also have special discounts for larger groups that are studied on a case by case basis with greater capacity or special trains being put on.

Requests should be sent to the Group S with at least 10 or 15 working days' notice respectively by calling 221 052 482, open from 9:30 to 13:00 and 14:30 to 17:30 or emailing gruposcppt@cp.pt.

When you buy a ticket from a ticket office, if you want a receipt with your tax number, you have to give the number before the ticket is issued so the number can be entered onto it when CP sells the ticket.

No changes can be made to the tax number once the ticket and receipt have been issued.

As of 1 August, all passengers who use the ticket vending machines or buy their tickets on the train can get a receipt directly from the site www.linhandante.com/facturacaoOnline.asp by entering the purchase details or from a CP ticket office, if you show the original of the proof of purchase.

The receipt is available for issue for 10 days as of the day of purhase (inclusive). The receipts for tickets bought on board may take up to five days before they are availabe to be issued and they are available for the following five days.

After that they cannot be issued.

The receipt is issued immediately and can be seen on the e-factura portal or printed out.

Any suggestions or complaints regarding the Oporto Urban Trains can be presented online through this form or the Electronic Complaints Book.

In all stations' ticket offices and Customer Assistance Offices, there is Suggestion/Complaint/Refund Forms, as well as the Complaints Book, which will be provided according to the law during the opening hours.

No. This will duplicate the Suggestions/Complaints and increase the waiting time. We will reply to your Suggestion/Complaint as quickly as possible.