After two years of Rubi line construction, drivers and pedestrians in Gaia finally have a date to circle. Firmino Pereira, the Gaia deputy mayor responsible for public space, said this week that the entire area around Via Edgar Cardoso and the VL8 road will be fully reopened to cars and pedestrians by May 2027. Rua do Cavaco, which connects the Arrábida junction to Afurada, is expected to reopen separately by January 2028. Both dates land well before the wider Rubi project's own July 2028 finish date, meaning the main road disruptions are expected to end more than a year before construction of the line is completed.
- Via Edgar Cardoso and the VL8 road, fully reopened to cars and pedestrians by May 2027
- Rua do Cavaco, connecting the Arrábida junction to Afurada, reopens separately by January 2028
Why the streets clear so long before the line opens
Rubi is the more complicated of two lines Porto Metro currently has under construction. It will run 6.4 kilometres from Casa da Música to Santo Ovídio, across the Douro into Gaia, with eight stations and a new bridge, the Ponte D. Antónia Ferreira, known locally as "a Ferreirinha", reserved exclusively for the metro, pedestrians and cyclists. The project was originally meant to finish in 2026, then 2027; a May 2026 reprogramming pushed full completion to July 2028. Construction of the bridge deck is expected to finish in April 2028, three months ahead of the wider project, which is why street-level works in Gaia can wrap up on their own schedule well before the line as a whole is running. The system's other line under construction, Rosa, connects São Bento to Casa da Música and is expected to enter service by the end of the first quarter of 2027, on a much less disrupted timeline than Rubi's.
The bigger, slower-moving story: who runs the whole system
The government also approved the tender for Porto Metro's next operating concession, which will cover the existing network plus the future Rosa and Rubi lines, and includes provisions for future Gondomar and Trofa lines should those projects proceed.
The bottom line
For anyone commuting through the Arrábida, Candal or Coimbrões areas, May 2027 is the number worth remembering, not the 2028 completion date for the full Rubi line, which is a different milestone measuring something else entirely. The concession renewal matters over the longer term, particularly for future expansion and operations. For most commuters, though, May 2027 is the date that matters.