After the Second World War, with the transfer of rural populations to the cities, they settled on two current issues regarding the use of public transport (CT) and single. A defended the primacy of public transport as fast mobility of the future, including the restriction of individual transport (IT) in inner city areas. The second opted for the construction of highways and roads, pointing out the advantages (in terms of convenience, flexibility and customization) of IT on the CT and better adaptation and return the car to polynuclear cities of metropolitan areas. With the increasing rate of motorization of the big cities, the adoption of measures to manage the traffic passed through the promotion of TC, the use of priority lanes (corridors 'bus'), the signaling associated with telematics, the establishment of bus cast, the definition of criteria for the location of the spots in CT based on the origin and destination traffic flows, solutions for car parks and the establishment of parking on the outskirts of cities. As a complement, tariff measures have been adopted for the movement of IT in inner city areas. In the late 70s in Portugal there were 38 location with urban transport, highlighting Lisbon and Porto with 85% of traffic and a significant level suburban transport. The two metropolitan areas, with an ability to attract migratory very sharp, just to have exponential population growth in its suburbs (housing / dormitory) at the expense of the central areas, depopulated, and occupied by the economic activities relating to the Services, resulting in: congestion traffic, the occupation of the territory, changing the land use for residential areas increasingly distant from the centers and the establishment of commuter traffic (with peaks of traffic), requiring a drain on resources in infrastructure - facilities, equipment and vehicle fleets whose profitability becomes ineffective. In 1975, the Ministry of Labour, Transport and Communications Industry and Technology and promoted the formation of a working group to submit proposals on the diversification of working hours in large cities, as well as restricting the movement and parking of promotion of IT and CT. Subsequently, by order of Sec of State 20/07/75 Transport and Communications, was named a team of experts to assist it the work of this group, having been given a set of measures, which stood out, creating Express careers, change of schedules, availability of lanes, construction of interfaces, signaling with priority for CT acquisition of vehicles, introduction of passes, of which highlights the 'go social', and also reducing the tariff range , parking control and separation of traffic flows. For the study and implementation of appropriate measures to DGTT draw up transport plans for the regions of Lisbon and Porto. Lisbon constitutes the GEL and the Port Gepp. In both groups, counted on the support of specialized consultants in the transport sector, under a technical assistance program agreed with the Swiss Confederation. This period was also marked by strikes Cross urban transport sector and the consequent emergence of 'alternative transport'.
Gilberto Gomes
