Overview

The first meeting of the Public Transport Organisation & Policy working group was hosted by the Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid. The host of the meeting, Carlos Cristobal Pinto, provided some insights into the Madrid region, its public transport system, and the activities of the Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid. The site visit showed some recent developments of the metro network and the interchange of Avenida de America. With respect to the focus of the meeting, namely the organisation of public transport, special attention was given, during the visit, to the role of the Consorcio in the extension of the metro network and the development of the Avenida de America interchange.

1. The Madrid region and its public transport system

The Madrid region (Comunidad de Madrid) is one of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain. It is made of 179 municipalities and has a total population of 5,4 million inhabitants (reference is year 2001). The organisation of the region and the location of population and activities show a clear functional structure:

- the city of Madrid, which is the main municipality of the region and concentrates economic activities (2,9 million inhabitants);

- the metropolitan ring, which consists of a number of large and medium size entities around the municipality of Madrid, with strong relations with the central city (2,2 million inhabitants);

- the rest of the region, with small and medium size municipalities (0,3 million inhabitants).

The public transport system consists of two urban modes (metro and urban buses) and two suburban modes (suburban buses and suburban railways). The table below summarizes supply and demand for each of these modes (reference is year 2002).

2. The activities of the Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid

The Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid (CRTM) is an autonomous agency of the regional government. In its quality of public transport authority, the main activities of the CRTM include:

- the planning of public transport infrastructures;

- the establishment of an integrated fare system for the whole public transport network and the finance framework of the system;

- the planning of transport services and the definition of co-ordinated operating programmes for all transport modes;

- the creation of an overall image of the public transport system where the CRTM holds the external relation with the users.

Considering the structure of the region and its public transport networks, achieving integration is critical to the efficiency of the system. The contribution of the CRTM to integration is three-fold:

- administrative integration - the CRTM gathers the responsibilities of the Madrid region and the local governments, and acts as the unique public transport authority for local and regional transport;

- fare integration, with the implementation of the travel pass, which is currently used in more than 65% of public transport journeys;

- modal integration, by expanding networks and services so that intermodality between bus (regional and local), metro and regional railways is facilitated.

3. The development of the metro network

The metro network of Madrid expanded significantly over the last decade. During the period from 1995 to 1999, the network grew of 56,3 km and 38 new stations were opened, including 9 interchanges. These new developments concerned mainly the extension of existing lines and the development of new lines towards the Northern, North-Eastern and South-Eastern suburbs of city. The latter had an interesting financing scheme.

Focus on the development of metro line 9 (South-Eastern suburbs of Madrid):

- initiative of CRTM;

- invitation to tenders for concession (30 years);

- successful bidder contributed 20% of capital investment;

- sources of revenue for concession: passenger fares and subsidy per passenger.

During the period 1999 to 2003, another 54,6 km of line was built and 36 new stations were opened, including 11 interchanges. These new developments concerned notably a new circular line to the South of the city, called MetroSur, which represents a very effective response to the progressive extension of Madrid metropolitan area.

Focus on MetroSur features:

- length of the network: 40.5 km;

- 28 stations, including six interchanges with commuter railways and one interchange with the metro network;

- overall investment of 1.640 millions euros, including rolling stock;

- the network connects with each other five large towns situated to the South of Madrid (Alcorcón, Leganés, Getafe, Fuenlabrada and Móstoles).

The picture below shows one of Madrid’s most recent metro stations.

4. The interchange of Avenida de América

The creation of this multimodal interchange (urban buses, interurban coaches, metro, and car park) was a joint initiative of the CRTM and the City of Madrid.

The development of the interchange (25.4 million euro) was privately financed, following an invitation to tenders for the construction and the operation (interchange 25 years, parking 50 years) of the premises. The sources of revenue for the concession include:

- the operation of the interchange (buses pay a fee to use the interchange);
- the parking facilities;
- the commercial areas and publicity.

The interchange was built underground, in order to create an extensive pedestrian area at street level. The only elements above ground are a domed access pavilion to the interchange and some windows designed to provide the interchange with natural daylight. This is illustrated by the drawing below.

A 480 m long access tunnel serves the interchange providing buses with direct entry and exit which can save them as much as 15 minutes in rush hours. This is illustrated by the map below.

The drawings below describe the structure of the interchange itself.

	Level -1: Main concourse leading off to all other levels, the shopping area and the long distance coach station, with 18 bays.
	Level -2: Urban and metropolitan bus station, with 19 bays and connections to the bus entry and exit tunnels.
	Level -3: Access concourse to Metro, shopping area and public car park for 269 short-stay vehicles.
	Level -4: Local residents long-term park with 396 spaces.