Overview
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on October 15, 2026 that he will send a Proposta de Emenda à Constituição (PEC) to Congress to guarantee free public transport on Saturdays and Sundays for cities that operate collective transit.
- Lula said the measure would be funded through emendas parlamentares, which are discretionary budget allocations controlled by lawmakers that would be reallocated to cover the policy.
- The pledge is one of several benefit announcements in the final days of the campaign and has drawn charges from opponents that it is an electoral move rather than a fully worked policy.
- São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes publicly criticized the campaign after it used a Prefeitura de São Paulo photo to illustrate the federal proposal and noted the city already runs a 'Domingão Tarifa Zero' program since 2023.
- Implementation faces major hurdles because a PEC needs Congressional approval, municipal transit systems differ across Brazil, and internal government estimates previously put the nationwide cost at about R$90 billion per year, raising clear fiscal and operational questions for riders and local governments.