Gaia announces teleférico from Madalena and Canidelo to Arrábida Shopping on Linha Rubi

Luís Filipe Menezes, President of Vila Nova de Gaia City Council, has announced a new teleférico (cable car) link connecting the coastal area between Madalena and Canidelo to the future Arrábida Shopping Metro station, on the planned Linha Rubi. According to the mayor, the tender for the project is expected to be launched by August. He also said a second cable car connection is planned, this time towards the interior of the municipality, although no date has yet been given.

Teleférico in Gaia as public transport on the Linha Rubi

Menezes stressed that this is not intended to be a tourist attraction like the cable car between Cais de Gaia and Jardim do Morro on the riverside. Instead, the aim is to create a genuine public-transport link, with travel expected to be possible using an Andante ticket.

In a statement shared on social media, the mayor underlined the purpose of serving areas that currently struggle to reach the city centre, the Metro and workplaces: "It is not to go over the city, the Historic Centre, but to unlock outlying areas that have great difficulty getting to the city centre, the metro and places of work".

He also argued that the idea follows examples already being implemented elsewhere in Europe: "It is something we are not inventing. Paris [France] started before us; we will be the second city in Europe to have this means of transport. People will be able to use it with Andante".

Proposed route: from Madalena and Canidelo to Arrábida Shopping

The planned line would start around Praia das Pedras Amarelas and end at the Metro station near Ponte da Arrábida, with intermediate stations envisaged at Praia de Lavadores, Marina de Gaia, Cais da Afurada and Jardins d'Arrábida.

In a video featuring virtual images of the future stations, Menezes set out the alignment in more detail: "The public tender will be launched by August. [The route] starts in this transition area of Madalena and Canidelo, will pass Cabedelo, at Gaia Marina, will then climb from Afurada to Jardins d'Arrábida, will go over the motorway and will finish at the first metro station next to Ponte da Arrábida".

Menezes reiterated the positioning of the project as an environmental and year-round mobility option, while not disclosing costs: "We will be pioneers in Europe, after Paris, with a means of transport that is environmentally friendly, fast, safe and operating all year round".

Earlier teleférico proposals in Vila Nova de Gaia

This is not the first time Menezes has spoken publicly about such an initiative. In November last year, at his swearing-in as President of Vila Nova de Gaia City Council following his win in the previous month’s local elections, the Social Democrat set out an intention to advance a cable car project between Canidelo and Devesas, specifically as a response to the municipality’s mobility pressures and the heavy number of cars on local roads.

His predecessor, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, had also announced-towards the end of 2024-the ambition of launching, in 2025, a design/operating tender for the construction of two cable cars to be delivered in two phases. One would connect Hospital Santos Silva (Gaia) to Hospital Escola Fernando Pessoa (Gondomar), passing through Vilar de Andorinho, Avintes and Oliveira do Douro. The other would link the area around Ponte da Arrábida to Afurada (Gaia) and Pasteleira (Porto). None of those projects, identified in a study commissioned by the municipality, moved forward.