By Chris King • 17 July 2022 • 18:44
Image of seats on a bus. Credit: Tomas Urbelionis/Shutterstock.com
On Thursday, July 14, the City Council revealed that Marbella’s urban public transport service saw an increase of 21 per cent in the first semester of 2022. It reached a total of 2,581,874 passengers, adding 449,678 to those registered last year in the Malaga municipality.
Enrique Rodriguez, the Councillor for Transport, stressed that: “these are very positive data that show exponential growth, reflecting the commitment of citizens to sustainable travel as an alternative at a time when fuel prices are skyrocketing”.
He specified that 83 per cent of the journeys were carried out using the Municipal Mobility Card for registered residents, which currently has 72,000 active units. “This trend is not only due to the end of the health crisis and the recovery of tourism, but also that the figures prior to the pandemic are widely exceeded with an increase of 113 per cent”.
The return of tourism has impacted the number of passengers he added, with an increase of 107 per cent, going from 193,470 in 2021, to 401,425 in 2022.
Mr Rodriguez also highlighted that: “The fact that the month with the highest influx was June, with 520,275 travellers, demonstrates the good tourist trend since the figure of half a million had only been exceeded previously in August 2021 and this year it has been brought forward”.
Regarding the number of users per month, the councillor detailed that there were 356,130 in January, 359,439 in February, 416,446 in March, 447,107 in April and 482,477 in May. February was the month with the highest year-on-year growth with 89 per cent since in 2021 a total of 189,922 were registered.
“The rising prices of fuels, which have doubled the price per litre, has also led to the use of the mobility card to avoid travelling by private vehicle” he pointed out. “This a pioneering measure, promoted by the Government team in 2019, which has once again become a relief for residents in the face of a complicated economic situation in this area”.
An investment of more than €6.5 million has been made in public transport by Marbella Council, so the direct saving for citizens has been more than three million in these first months of the year.
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Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at [email protected]
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