Anyone who has spent time navigating Lisbon’s public transportation system knows the frustration of standing at a bus or a tram stop, wondering if the next bus will arrive in two minutes or forty. As someone who lives in a neighborhood that doesn’t have a metro stop, I know all too well the pain of waiting for a bus and having no idea when it will show up.
Tourists have it even worse because they sometimes don’t even know where to get the bus or how the bus routes work. Fortunately, the Carris transportation company, which handles the buses and trams in Lisbon (NOT the metro) has recently completed a major update to their CARRISway app.
I first wrote about CARRISway in 2024 when the app (available for download on the App Store and Google Play) started allowing residents with Viva or Navegante cards to renew their monthly train passes with the app using NFC technology instead of only at a ticket machine. I am happy to say that Carris has now gone one step further and updated the app with real-time updates of bus arrival times. This is especially helpful at night when there are very few buses. Knowing exactly when your bus will arrive can help you plan the best time to leave the bar and stand at the bus stop for as little time as possible.
How Does It Work?
When you first open CARRISway, click on “Rotas & Carreiras” to access the Bus Routes and Lines. Then, click on the blue location pin icon to see the bus stops marked with gray circles around you. When you click on a gray circle, you can see the next buses arriving at the stop in order of arrival. For example, if three bus lines stop at the nearest bus stop, you will see the bus line that arrives first at the top of the list and the time that the bus is expected to arrive.
By clicking on one of the bus routes, you can see the next four buses on that route scheduled to arrive at the respective bus stop and you can even click “Ver mais horários” to see all of the scheduled arrivals for the entire day for that particular bus route.
It is important to know that “Sentido” means “Direction.” For example, bus route 742 runs in two directions, towards B. Madre Deus or Pólo Universitário Ajuda. Pay attention to the “Sentido” that appears when you click on the different bus stops in CARRISway to make sure that you are going to take the bus in the right direction!
Improvements Still Needed
While CARRISway has made significant improvements and provides useful real-time bus and tram information, it still has a long way to go in terms of functionality. First of all, tourists are completely unfamiliar with bus routes and where they go. The CARRISway app can not help you find the route you need to get from one point to another. In our opinion, it is best to use Google or Apple Maps in combination with the CARRISway app to have the best experience. Google Maps, for example, can tell you which bus routes (and the direction or “sentido”) you need to take. After locating the closest bus stop that Google Maps suggests, open CARRISway and locate the same bus stop to see when the bus is REALLY scheduled to arrive. Google and Apple Maps do not know the actual time of arrival of Lisbon buses, but CARRISway can sync to actual real-time data provided by the CARRIS transport network.
By using these two apps in tandem, you can master the art of catching a bus with almost no wait times in Lisbon. Once you get on the bus, you cannot guarantee your arrival time to your desired location, but at least you will be on your way – and for a fair price, compared to paying for a taxi or using a rideshare app. CARRISway will let you know if any buses are even coming to your stop. This happens a lot at night when the bus route has already finished for the day, but the lack of signage at a bus stop can make this very unclear.
Once you are onboard, you can also pay using contactless technology, another innovation recently implemented by CARRIS, which really does do their best to continually improve the Lisbon public transport system.
Looking Forward
The CARRISway app has made substantial improvements, but there’s still room for improvement. The interface could be more intuitive and better integrate with planning a journey from Point A to Point B. However, the current updates are a significant step forward for anyone regularly using Lisbon’s public transportation system. After trying the CARRISway app myself several times, I can say that it is even more accurate than the signs installed at many Lisbon bus stops that frequently update bus arrival times. It is truly the best option currently available for public transportation users in Lisbon, and I encourage you to try it!
While it may require some getting used to and it is currently only available in Portuguese, the ability to know exactly when your bus or tram will arrive is worth the learning curve.
