BE candidate says that the circular line of the Lisbon Metro is a retreat
BE’s candidate for the presidency of the Lisbon City Council in the municipal councils, Beatriz Gomes Dias, considered today the Government’s insistence on the project of the Yellow Circular line is a step backwards in face of the need for mobility in the city.
“The insistence on the circular line and the priority given to the circular line is a retreat from Lisbon’s mobility needs. We need to move forward, making the metro more spread out and not concentrated, we need more lines“, said the candidate at the end of a trip between the Ameixoeira station and Campo Grande, on the Yellow line.
According to Beatriz Gomes Dias, you have to take the subway to Alcântara or Ajuda, because they are “very far from the city center”, not because they are physically so, but because “they don’t have a transport that allows quick access to the center”.
On the occasion of the International Mobility Day, a Blocist candidate recalled that this is “a symbolic day”, without which she intends to discuss how mobility can be transformed in cities and how to make it more accessible.
For the candidate to “radically change” mobility in the city is one of the goals and insisting on the circular line is a retreat from the change already achieved, he reiterated.
“People who can now travel by metro from Ameixoeira to Rato, from one of the ends of the city to the center, can do it in a single trip and quickly. With this change in the circular line, you have to transfer here in Campo Grande , you have to get off on the subway or continue to Telheiras,” said the candidate.
On the wharf in Campo Grande, after a short trip, Beatriz Gomes Dias told journalists that the solution advocated by the Government of circular line “will introduce more travel time“, shifting that will alter the” achievements in mobility “.
“We are of the opinion that this should not be the solution, the meter should be extended to areas where it does not exist, the expansion should bring this form of transport to other areas of the city, “he reiterated.
According to the candidate, the difficulties that have been introduced and time may lead some people who have chosen to stop using the car, because they have the metro option, to return to the car.
“People need to move easily, to take their children to school, for work and leisure. These difficulties can have the opposite effect that we intend to reduce the number of cars entering the city”, he points out.
The yellow circular line project foresees the creation of a ring surrounding the central area of the city, with the opening of two new stations: Estrela and Santos.
The circular line will connect Cais do Sodré station (Green line) to Rato station (Yellow line).
Beatriz Gomes Dias was approached on the subway platform by a self-styled “man of the people”, who criticized the Government’s option to create the circular line, saying that the “25 million that will be spent on a viaduct should go towards the construction of 200 meters of line between Telheiras and Colégio Militar”.
In a brief exchange of words, the citizen, who did not want to be identified, stressed that subway users “have no idea of what is going to happen”, recalling that, during a protest at the site to draw attention, “there were only 50 people, when expensive will be hit”.
Five axes of the program
BE’s electoral program has five fundamental axes: combating the social crisis and the economic crisis, guaranteeing affordable housing, responding to the climate emergency, transport and mobility, and culture.
Another of Beatriz Gomes Dias’ proposals is a three-phase plan to make public transport free in the city, starting with the unemployed and as neighborhood careers, in 2021, those under 18, those over 65 and higher education students in 2022 and the rest of the population in a subsequent phase.
The Chamber of Lisbon is made up of eight elected by PS (including Citizens for Lisbon and Lisbon é Muita Gente), one by BE (which has a governance agreement with the socialists), four by CDS-PP, two to do PSD and two from CDU.
In addition to Beatriz Gomes Dias, the current mayor, Fernando Medina (PS / Livre coalition), Carlos Moedas (PSD / CDS-PP / PPM / Aliança), João Ferreira (CDU), are running for the presidency of the municipality. Bruno Horta Soares (IL), Nuno Graciano (Enough), Manuela Gonzaga (PAN), Tiago Matos Gomes (Volt Portugal), Ossanda Líber (We are All Lisbon Movement), Sofia Afonso Ferreira (We, Citizens!), Bruno Fialho (PDR ) and João Patrocínio (Stand up).