Commuting Alternatives Lisbon

Renting a car or buying tickets for public transportation isn't for everyone. Some worry about the ecological impact of using any motorized vehicles for transport; some need something a bit faster or easier to use. Either way, you're looking for alternatives to traditional commute for your few months stay in Lisbon, and we're here to deliver.

One way to lessen the carbon footprint of your commuting is by using electric scooters. These have exploded all over European capitals in recent years. Their popularity in private use has motivated many companies to establish rentable scooters in city streets. Electric scooters are precisely what they sound like – regular scooters with a small electric engine that helps you go up hills and lessens the amount of work you need to do. Think of them as more stable Segways.

To rent a scooter, you first need to download an app from a company like Lomo, Bungo, Hive, Flash, Lime, or Voi. Each company has its scooters, and they are not interchangeable. On the app's map, you'll find the nearest scooter, and by paying with your credit card and scanning the scooter's QR code, you'll unlock it. After you're done, you park it on a sidewalk and tell the app that that's where you parked it. The prices are pretty much the same across all the different companies, with €1 to unlock the scooter and €0,15 for each minute, totalling €10 per hour.

If you want to be even more environmentally friendly, you can always rent a bike. There work similarly to the scooters, but they differ a bit from company to company. For example, Gira is a bike-sharing company with almost 500 bikes and nearly 50 docking stations around Lisbon; however, it mainly focuses on locals. You can buy a day pass, costing a flat price of €10 for 45 minutes of use, but it's not the most convenient.

The better option here is Jump, a subsidiary of Uber. Using the Uber app, you can see some 1750 dockless electric bikes on their map and unlock them the same way you would an electric scooter. Another advantage is that you don't need to look for a station to park your bike when you're done exploring Lisbon. However, all this convenience costs a little more, €0,20 per minute, or €12 per hour.

Lastly, Hive, the scooter sharing company, has expanded its business into bike-sharing following its success. They copy the model of Jump, but they are yet to have such a large fleet of e-bikes as the Uber company. Whichever company you choose, keep in mind that they do not rent out helmets, so you should bring your own.

The last thing we want to mention here is tuk-tuks. They are by no means environmentally friendly (though some companies have been introducing electric tuk-tuks in recent years), but they are a unique way of navigating the city. They work more like taxis, with prices at about €45 to €70 per hour, but they are great for sightseeing and taking pictures. Companies like Eco Tuk Tours, Tuk On Me, or Tuk Tuk Lisboa offer a wonderful tourist experience of guided tours through the city or a hop-on, hop-off exploration of the capital.