García Chueca pointed out that the Vitoria-Gasteiz tramway had broken its passenger record: 'Citizens are showing ever greater support for public transport'
- The Basque Government's Minister for Sustainable Mobility announced on Radio Vitoria that the city's tramway had transported nearly eleven million passengers in 2024
- García Chueca stressed that her Ministry was working with Renfe, ADIF and the Spanish Ministry in order to introduce improvements to the Álava suburban rail service
During her interview on Radio Vitoria this Tuesday, Susana García Chueca, the Basque Government's Minister for Sustainable Mobility, expressed her satisfaction with the levels of use of public transport in Álava, where the Vitoria-Gasteiz tramway set new records in 2024; she stressed that the following step forward was expected to occur in spring with the improvements to the suburban rail service in the province, after the Basque Government had taken over its running for the whole of the Basque Country on 1 January.
As regards the use of the Vitoria-Gasteiz tramway, García Chueca announced that the provincial figures for the last year had set a new record: 'There were 10,900,000 journeys, nearly two million up on 2023, which had been a record-breaking year with the tramway to Salburua coming into service. And passenger numbers will continue to grow. In fact, October was the first month when over a million tickets were validated in the tramway's history; and that was repeated in November and December. We have seen that those increases are not only down to the discounts, but also because people are showing greater support for public transport. When you begin to use it and discover that it is convenient, affordable and first-rate transport that solves problems, it becomes a habit'. Specifically, she explained that 13% of the tickets validated were for the tramway to the Salburua neighbourhood: 'The response is very good and there is still room for growth'.
Susana García Chueca also referred to the special night tramway service that was run on New Year's Eve for the first time; an experience 'that the Government is open to repeating when Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council so request, because it considers there is a specific one-off need'. 'It has been a good experience. Around 7,600 tickets validated up to 9.00 in the morning. If we can balance the service with the citizens' needs so they feel safer when returning home and so they can have a good time, that can only be a good thing', the minister pointed out.
As regards the introduction of free travel for the under 12, she explained that the experience with the Vitoria-Gasteiz tramway 'is going very well, it is working'. 'Anybody who did not have the card is going to the Euskotren offices and there is steady stream of people taking it out', she went on. 'Our work together with the citizens to get cars off the streets is having a result and it is positive. We have to go further in improving services and accessibility. Continue working in this line because people are responding’, García Chueca assessed.
Improvements to the suburban rail system in Álava
Regarding the improvements to the suburban rail services announced after the Basque Government took it over on 1 January, the Basque Minister for Sustainable Mobility ensured that the 'timeline continues to be spring', while she described that her Ministry continues to work 'shoulder to shoulder' with both Renfe and with the Spanish Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility' for everything to go 'as planned'. 'We have a very good relationship and a very good response. The Basque Ministry of Sustainable Mobility is working so that in spring, as we have said, the citizens of Álava are going to see that they have a more frequent suburban rail services in peak hours, so that there is greater use of the service’, García Chueca stressed. Accordingly, she outlined that her ministry has already defined the areas where they want to introduce 'more and better services', although they are working with both ADIF, the owner of the infrastructure, and with the Spanish ministry. In the second case, to look for 'the most appropriate administrative formula, as the terminal stops of the lines will be in the neighbouring autonomous communities of Castilla y León and Navarra'.
'We are going to start step by step. We are not going to be able to change things overnight, but what we have said from that the start is that we were going to work to make improvements, both in Álava and in Bizkaia. In Bizkaia, we have already begun to make improvements and we want to take the next step here in Álava in spring’, Susana García Chueca stressed.