Dawn transit network analysis

🌆🌃🌇

By Gonçalo Matos, for Lisboa Para Pessoas

💡 Motivation

• Night-time public transport is common in European cities (Plyushteva and Boussauw 2020)

• It can have positive impacts on road safety (Lichtman-Sadot 2019) and contribute to local economy (Transport for London 2015)

• Lisbon has them, but with low frequency and poor connections to the outskirts, despite 81% of the Metro Area inhabitants living outside the city (INE 2021)

• Mobility dynamic at night is not limited to Lisbon (INE 2018)

Night displacement density (19:00-04:00) by destination municipality (INE 2018)

26 of 28 capitals had night services it in 2019

Carris night connections (7) only connect to to Oeiras, Amadora, Loures and Odivelas

Metro shuts down at 1am, trains and boats at 2am (Seixal, Montijo and Trafaria before that)

💡 Motivation

• Problem acknowledged by experts, that state a “mismatch with people’s needs and economic activities” (TML and W2G 2024)

• Carris Metropolitana night network launch has been a success, with increases in demand up to 117% (Carris Metropolitana 2025)

🌃 What transport options exist at dawn and where do they reach? 🌇

Operators’ GTFS collection

Mode	Area	Operator	URL
🚆	Metro Area	CP	📂
🚆	Metro Area	Fertagus	📂
🚍	Metro Area	Carris Metropolitana	📂
️⛴️	Metro Area	TTSL	📂
🚇	Lisbon, Odivelas, Amadora	Metro	📂
🚊	Almada, Seixal	MTS	📂
🚍	Lisbon	Carris	📂
🚍	Cascais	MobiCascais	📂
🚍	Barreiro	TCB	📂

🤿 Let’s dive into the code!

https://github.com/lxparapessoas/rede-madrugada

👀 Check the results

https://lxparapessoas.github.io/rede-madrugada/

A simpler way to do it

Check shiny.posit.co

Thanks! 🙂

Let’s keep in touch!

✉️ goncaloafmatos@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

📞 +351 927 395 705

🌐 gmatos.pt

📑 References

Carris Metropolitana. 2025. “Desde Maio de 2024, o Que Mudou Na Carris Metropolitana.” https://carrismetropolitana.pt/news/32427.

INE. 2018. “Mobilidade e Funcionalidade Do Território Nas Áreas Metropolitanas Do Porto e de Lisboa : 2017.” https://www.ine.pt/xurl/pub/349495406.

INE. 2021. “População Residente (N.º) Por Local de Residência.” https://tabulador.ine.pt/indicador/?id=0011609.

Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee. 2019. “Can Public Transportation Reduce Accidents? Evidence from the Introduction of Late-Night Buses in Israeli Cities.” Regional Science and Urban Economics 74 (January): 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2018.11.009.

Plyushteva, Anna, and Kobe Boussauw. 2020. “Does Night-Time Public Transport Contribute to Inclusive Night Mobility? Exploring Sofia’s Night Bus Network from a Gender Perspective.” Transport Policy 87 (March): 41–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.01.002.

TML, and W2G. 2024. “Relatório de Participação Pública - Fase I.”

Transport for London. 2015. “Night Tube Economic Impacts: Executive Summary.” https://volterra.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Night-Tube-economic-impacts-executive-summary.pdf.