Students up to the age of 23 will be able to use public transport without paying, there are changes to tolls and tourism. 2024 has arrived.
The new year started a few hours ago and it was also a few hours ago that changes came into force that will affect the daily lives (or wallets) of thousands or millions of Portuguese.
All students between the ages of 4 and 23 now have a free pass on public transport. Up to the age of 18 you don’t need to show your school registration, but between the ages of 18 and 23 you do. Students aged 24 on courses with an integrated study cycle (Architecture and Urbanism, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine) are also covered. The annual savings can amount to hundreds of euros per household.
For those who use their own transportation more often, it’s important to know that prices are going down on seven toll roads. The reduction will be 30% and will apply to seven highways in the interior and the Algarve: on the former SCUT A22 – Algarve, A23 – IP and Beira Interior, A24 – Interior Norte, A25 – Beira Litoral and Alta, A4 – Transmontana and Túnel do Marão, A13 and A13-1 (Coimbra radial) in the Pinhal Interior region.
Today the online payments that used to be made without the customer needing a bank card are over. Anyone making any digital payment – via the bank’s website or app – will need to have a card from their bank. Physical or virtual.
In Lisbon, as of today, passengers arriving in the capital on cruise ships will pay a one-off tourist tax, included in the package. It will be 2 euros per person, regardless of how long they stay in the city.