Madrid launches first bus rapid transit service

The City of Madrid has launched its first bus rapid transit (BRT) service, connecting two key neighbourhoods in a move that will cut journey times from 50 to 30 minutes.

The new line will link the Valdebebas neighbourhood, which has grown rapidly in recent years, with the Hospital Ramón y Cajal in the north of the city over a length of 15.5 kilometres.

The first phase of the project kicked off last week with the fully electric buses now having priority at traffic lights and a separate segregated lane on two-thirds of the route.

Speaking to Cities Today on the sidelines of the Eurocities Mobility Forum in Porto, Lola Ortiz Sanchez, Madrid’s General Director of Planning and Mobility Infrastructure, said the service will be a huge benefit to residents living in neighbourhoods currently underserved by public transport.

“This is the first BRT service to be launched in Madrid, and possibly all of Spain,” Ortiz Sanchez said.

“It will join two key hospitals, link neighbourhoods, and boost connections that residents have been asking for.”

Forum Chair

Madrid assumed the role of Eurocities Mobility Forum Chair during the event last week, taking over from Toulouse.

The Spanish capital will steer the direction of the forum over the next two years, with Ortiz Sanchez saying that the city wants to share its efforts in boosting public and active travel.

“In March 2023, we had over 800,000 more trips a day when compared to March 2022,” she commented.

“These were across all modes – cars, cycling, walking, scooting, metro and buses, but we are seeing fewer trips by car and more by public transport and cycling/walking.

“We don’t force people to do anything – we offer better public transport and space for active travel, and people are making the choice to take these [modes].

“We would like to share our experience with other European cities.

“Madrid will guarantee that the mobility strategies we’ll devise are not only green but also socially inclusive.”

TEN-T

During this year’s forum, city and EU mobility experts discussed how municipalities are addressing transport poverty, how the digital revolution is re-shaping urban public transport, and what the upcoming revision of the EU’s Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy will mean for cities.

The policy is based on developing a network of transport corridors that run across the European continent, where cities would act as ‘urban nodes’ and adapt their transport policies to meet additional requirements.

“It is still to be seen what a reinforced role for urban nodes in the proposed revision of the TEN-T regulation amounts to,” said Lucian Zagan, Mobility Project Coordinator at Eurocities.

“There are clear opportunities, but awareness still needs to be created and relevant actors should engage in policy dialogues and knowledge-sharing.”