The Madrid urban bus service, also commercially known as EMT Bus, is the main public transport service operated by the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain (EMT Madrid). The network has 226 lines (195 daytime, 30 nighttime and Airport Express) and a fleet of 2,107 buses.
As of December 2022, the Madrid Municipal Transport Company has a fleet of 2,090 buses, of which 1,910 run on compressed natural gas and 180 are electric. The entire bus fleet has been accessible to wheelchair users since 2007.
In 2006, EMT transported almost five hundred million passengers, travelling nearly one hundred million kilometres on the 209 lines in service and with a workforce of 7,512 employees. These figures make EMT the largest surface urban transport company in Spain and one of the largest in Europe.
On May 24, 2021, the first 30 fully electric buses of the 12-meter-long BYD K9UB model were presented, which can be seen on line C03 (Argüelles-Puerta de Toledo), among others. These models replace the older diesel ones. They allow a distribution of 27 seated seats, 41 standing seats and two seats for people with reduced mobility. These buses presented have passenger information panels from the Inelmatic brand.
On December 30, 2022, the last diesel buses of the EMT, owners of line 200 and of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro Facelift model, were withdrawn from the line and replaced by Scania N280UB. This meant that EMT Madrid achieved that the city of Madrid was the first of the major metropolises in Europe to have all its urban buses powered by more ecological fuels, since EMT Madrid has since then only used compressed natural gas (CNG) and batteries to recharge its electric buses, this being a milestone proposed years ago. This event is in line with the promise that by 2023 there would not be a single EMT Madrid diesel bus in service on the streets of the city.
The EMT headquarters are located in a modern building on Calle Cerro de la Plata, 4, near Atocha Station. It also has five operations centres, commonly known as depots, spread throughout the city. The last one was opened in November 2010 in the Sanchinarro neighbourhood. Since January 2012, the two Fuencarral depots act as one.
Lines
Regular lines
The regular lines of the EMT run every day between 6:00 and 0:00 (some have a slightly reduced schedule and on Sundays and holidays the service starts at 7:00), with each line having established departure times for the first and last service from each terminal and a frequency table published by day of the week and time interval following the guidelines set by the Regional Transport Consortium of Madrid.
These lines can be transversal, radial or peripheral, and all of them are named with a number of 1, 2 or 3 digits. Not all numbers between 1 and 310 exist, which are the ends of the regular lines, numbers are missing which are the code for non-regular lines that are also named with a number or sometimes in a different way.
There are two circular lines, C1 and C2, which exceptionally are not named with a number, being regular lines.
Zero lines
The zero lines are part of the Madrid 360 environmental strategy. They operate only with electric buses, and form a set of 3 lines that run exclusively through the Centro district, crossing it or bordering it. There are three zero lines: lines 001, 002 and C03. Line 001 was established in February 2020, linking Atocha station with the Moncloa interchange. Line 00215 was previously known as M2, and its route was extended from the intermodal area of Seville to Puerta de Toledo. Line C03 was established on September 15 of the same year, and shares terminals with line 002, although not the route.
Lines 001 and 002 are free, although it is necessary to validate the travel document or obtain a ticket inside the vehicle itself. Line 002 operates with minibuses.
University lines
The university lines serve the large university campuses in Madrid, connecting them with Madrid Metro and Cercanías Madrid. The university lines serve three campuses:
- Ciudad Universitaria: lines F and G connect the campus with the Glorieta de Cuatro Caminos and the Moncloa Interchange, respectively. Line U runs within the campus, between the Auditorium and the Faculty of Computer Science to the north and the Higher Sports Centre to the south.
- Somosaguas Campus: Line A connects the campus with the Moncloa Interchange, and line H with the Aluche Interchange.
- South Campus: Line E connects the stations of Conde de Casal and Sierra de Guadalupe passing through the South Campus of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, located in Puente de Vallecas.
Line I operated between Ciudad Universitaria metro station and Somosaguas Campus, but ceased service on 23 September 2013.
Night lines
Commonly called “owls” (but not to be confused with the Búho Metro service), they form a group of 30 night lines that connect the city centre with the different neighbourhoods of the city every night. These lines can be classified as follows:
- Lines N1 to N24 connect the outskirts with Plaza de Cibeles.
- Lines N25 and N26 connect Alonso Martínez with Villa de Vallecas and Aluche, respectively.
- Line N27 is the name given to the night service of the Express Airport line. It connects Cibeles with the airport, making only one intermediate stop next to the O’Donnell station.
- Line N28 connects Moncloa with Aravaca, being the only night line that does not enter the city centre.
- Lines NC1 and NC2 run in a circular fashion around the city, linking the entire night network and connecting the city’s main interchanges.
List of the buses in operation in Madrid
Urban
- Castrosua New City
- Castrosua Tempus Hybrid
- Rampini Wolta
- Solaris Urbino
- Hispano Habit
- Tata Hispano Area Hybrid
- Irisbus Agora
- BredaMenarinibus Avancity+
- Irisbus Citelis
- BYD K9UE
- Irizar ie bus
- IVECO Urbanway
- Mercedes-Benz Citaro
- Castrosua City Versus
- Rampini E60
- MAN Lion’s City
Suburban
- Iveco Crossway
- MAN Lion’s Coach
- Mercedes-Benz Tourismo
- Mercedes-Beenz Intouro
- MAN Beulas Glory
- Scania Citywide
- Castrosua Magnus
- Irizar i3
Madrid: full guide
- Administrative structure
- Architecture
- Churches and Cathedrals
- Entertainment
- Monuments
- Museums
- Parks and gardens
- Restaurants
- Shopping and markets
- Squares
- Streets
- Transport
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