Madrid’s transport includes the multimodal communications network that structures the movement of goods and travelers both within Madrid (Spain) and between it and other cities. It encompasses a set of strategic infrastructures for the integration and economic and social development of the city, while streamlining human movements and commercial transactions. It is managed by different public entities, highlighting the Ministry of Transport of the Government of Spain, the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council, each having powers over certain means of transport. Madrid’s transport network is in continuous expansion and improvement, in parallel to the demographic and urban expansion that the city is experiencing. Broadly speaking, we can divide Madrid’s transportation into public and private.
Public transport in the city of Madrid constitutes a privileged and first-class system. It is characterized by its metro system, which currently has more than 300 stations, spread over 12 lines and one branch. No less important is the extensive Cercanías Madrid network (managed by RENFE), which connects the city with the surrounding municipalities (such as Móstoles, Majadahonda or Alcalá de Henares); urban or interurban bus lines, essential in non-rail surface transportation; or the Light Metro, a tram service that is only present in very specific areas of the west and north of the capital. All these forms of transport are coordinated by the Madrid Regional Transport Consortium. Crucial are also the medium and long distance train lines and AVE that pass through the capital, under management of RENFE based on Adif infrastructure.
Private transportation in Madrid, in contrast, is carried out by the automobile. The city’s road network, often saturated by large traffic jams at peak times, includes ring roads (M-30, M-40) and other non-radial roads (M-12, M-203). Kilometer zero of Spain’s national roads (N-1, N-2) is in the heart of Puerta del Sol.
Metro
The Madrid metro is one of the most efficient transportation networks in the city. Currently, the Madrid Metro is the most extensive metro network in the European Union and the fourth in the world, with 293 km and 13 lines (one of them is a branch of line 2).
See also the most beautiful metro stations
Bus
There is an urban bus network managed, like the rest of the public transport network, by the Madrid Transport Consortium and the Madrid Municipal Transport Company, which has more than 1,994 vehicles and 194 lines. Many inhabitants of the peripheral neighborhoods of the capital, the same autonomy and bordering provinces use the services of the commuter railway and intercity buses to reach the capital and then use the metro. That is also why the bus network is widely interconnected with the railways. The main interchanges are Avenida de América, Moncloa and Plaza de Castilla, although there are other smaller ones such as Conde de Casal, Méndez Álvaro, Príncipe Pío, Canillejas, Ciudad Lineal and Plaza Elíptica.
International bus station:
Cercanías (railways)
The current Madrid Cercanías service, operated by Renfe Cercanías on Adif tracks, has a network throughout the Community of Madrid, reaching the vast majority of the population and interconnecting the service with that of the Madrid Metro. in more than 20 stations.
At the end of 2004, the Renfe Commuter Railway Network of the Community of Madrid had nine lines in operation and a length of 370 km, with 101 stations in total, 1,385 daily circulations (on working days), and could accommodate a total of 880,000 travelers. The workforce consists of about 1,300 employees.
All of the network lines, except C-9 and C-8 between Villalba and Cercedilla, are double track, and some routes are quadruple, with the entire network being electrified. The main station is Atocha-Cercanías, through which all lines pass, except the already mentioned C-9.
Madrid railway stations (2):
Airport
Madrid-Barajas Airport (IATA: MAD, ICAO: LEMD), is located in the northeast of Madrid, 12 kilometers from the center. It began its service in 1928, although it was officially inaugurated in 1931 and is currently managed by Spanish Airports and AENA Air Navigation. It is the main airport in Spain.
Madrid has a series of ring roads around it. These are the M-30, which delimits the central almond of the city, the M-40, in the residential neighborhoods of the city, the M-45, bordering the municipality, and the M-50, in the metropolitan area. These highways serve to avoid having to cross the city to go from one point to another in the periphery.
Bicycle
Madrid’s public electric bicycle service is called BiciMAD, for which 123 charging bases have been placed.
Nearly 70 new kilometers of cycle streets and cycle lanes are incorporated in the center, to facilitate their implementation, as a complementary possibility to public transport. Data from the City of Madrid Mobility Report confirm that bicycle use in the central area of Madrid increased by 17 percent between 2012 and 2013. This significant increase is related to the increase in the supply of infrastructure cyclists. Madrid now has 316 kilometers of cycle paths, 1,167 bike racks and 76 bike advance lines at traffic lights.
Public Transport Statistics in Madrid
The average time that people spend on public transport in Madrid, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 62 minutes, while 13% of people spend more than 2 hours every day. The average time people wait at a stop or station is 11 minutes, while 13% of people wait more than 20 minutes each day. The average distance that people usually travel in a single trip is 9.5 km, while 25% travel more than 12 km in a single direction.
Madrid: full guide
- Administrative structure
- Architecture
- Churches and Cathedrals
- Entertainment
- Museums
- Parks and gardens
- Restaurants
- Shopping and markets
- Squares
- Streets
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