The areas of Murcia and Cartagena will strengthen their mobility with the implementation of new itineraries and schedules that will provide an alternative to the car
There are only three days left for the launch of the renewed interurban transport model in the metropolitan areas of Murcia and Cartagena. On Friday, December 3, four of the ten new public bus concessions contemplated in the Regional Government’s Daily Mobility Map will come into operation, which has the clear objective of improving, expanding and optimizing mobility coverage among all municipalities. Specifically, the first routes are Alcantarilla-Murcia, Beniel-Santomera-Murcia, Molina de Segura-Murcia and Mar Menor-Cartagena metropolitan area. The remaining six will go out to competition next year.
“2.7 million travelers are expected in the first year”, estimated yesterday the Minister of Infrastructure and Development, José Ramón Díez de Revenga, at the informative breakfast organized by LA VERDAD and the Autonomous Community to deepen the strengths and challenges of Movibus , the regional brand of the interurban transport model. To achieve this data, the head of the branch trusts that society will park the car and get on the bus, adapting the schedules, shortening travel times and with free transfers. Its mission is “to better supply activity centers, such as university campuses, hospitals and poles of economic activity,” he stressed.
In the meeting, moderated by the head of the local area of the newspaper, Manuel Buitrago, María Belén López, vice-rector of Infrastructure Planning of the University of Murcia, also spoke, who expressed her gratitude because the new interurban model will allow the UMU to connect with up to 35 municipalities: “There are many students from different parts of the Region who use the bus to get, above all, to the Espinardo and Health Sciences campuses.” He numbered 20,000 students who travel to Espinardo and around 5,000 to El Palmar; 35% of them take the bus every day. Also, due to the volume of passengers, he proposed to Díez de Revenga to create an intermodal point in the university complex, to which the counselor replied that “it is going to leave.”
The counselor Díez de Revenga announced that the line that connects Cabo de Palos and La Manga will be redesigned to satisfy the neighbors
In this regard, the president of the Murcia Youth Council, Jesús Alcolea, pointed out that those under 34 years of age represent 74% of the users of public transport in the Region. “Young people also prefer accessible and sustainable public transport,” he noted, noting that for the design of Movibus “we have been counted on to meet our real needs.”
The historic line 44, which from this Friday will be called Alcantarilla-Murcia, moves 600,000 passengers annually, as indicated by Joaquín Buendía, mayor of the fifth most populated city in the Region, which will have four other direct destinations: the UMU; Murcia, after passing through Sangonera la Seca; The Arrixaca; The Torres de Cotillas-Alguazas-Molina de Segura; and the Polígono Industrial Oeste, after passing through Murcia. “We are going to become an even more interesting travel provider,” he promised. Of all the new services, he put the accent on line 5 (Murcia-Alcantarilla-Polígono Industrial Oeste), which will allow the displacement not only of workers, but also of customers and suppliers of companies installed in the area.
Reset time
The regional mobility system is the result of coordinated work over the last four years with the agents involved in public transport, but it is not without improvement. Adviser Diez de Revenga warned that “some distortions” may arise during the first days, although he promised to study “all” and solve them as soon as possible: “As long as it is not running, it cannot be polished.” Even so, he indicated that the new buses will be green (for time, not all will look the same image from this Friday) and he trusted that the population will get used to the expected stage in a few days. Precisely, the start-up of Movibus coincides with the beginning of the December bridge with the purpose of intercepting possible imbalances, taking advantage of the fact that in that period a majority enjoy vacations and will not use interurban transport as much. To this is added that the UMU will cut classes on December 10 so that its students prepare for the exams of this first semester.
José Ramón Díez de Revenga. Minister of Development and Infrastructures
«We have been designing this 100% accessible model for four years»
The Minister of Development and Infrastructure expressed his satisfaction because “the time has come for the Region of Murcia to enjoy a 21st century interurban bus system”. “For four years we have been designing a 100% connected, accessible, sustainable model that meets the real needs of users, so that they abandon private transport and choose the public,” he recalled, highlighting that this process has been participatory. «We have tracked with mobile technology (100% legal and anonymized) the real movements of 150,000 people (10% of the population in the Community) during several standard days and we have complemented them with data from the National Institute of Statistics, which carried out a study similarly, surveys at street level and hearings with associations, institutions and municipalities, “he said, adding that” if we have left someone, we will have their voice. It also showed that the renewed model will serve a total of 242 locations, 40 more than currently, and that it has accessible vehicles for people with disabilities, “because it is not understood that this is not the case.”
Joaquín Buendía. Mayor of Alcantarilla
“It is a wise move to reduce the trip between Murcia and Alcantarilla to 20 minutes”
The municipality of Alcantarilla will have five direct lines that will allow it to be connected with Murcia, the UMU, UCAM, La Arrixaca hospital, the West Industrial Park and the neighboring towns of Las Torres de Cotillas, Alguazas and Molina de Segura. “It is an exciting change,” said Joaquín Buendía, although he insisted that “we will be aware of possible complications that may arise from Friday, December 3 in the new services and we hope to be agile when it comes to solving them.” In this regard, he commented that some time ago he has held different meetings with the Ministry of Development and Infrastructure and the General Directorate of Mobility and Coastal to “fit the data collected in previous studies with the habits and expectations of our municipality.” One of the important achievements for sewers is saving time in their connection with Murcia, which will range between 15 and 20 minutes, instead of “the 40 minutes reached at rush hour,” he compared. “It is a wise move to halve the trip, and I trust that it will serve to soon reach 2,000 users a day,” he encouraged.
María Belén López. Vice-rector for Infrastructure Planning of the University of Murcia
“We will work to meet the demands of university students”
Traffic in the vicinity of the Espinardo junction, at peak times, usually generates times of high traffic. Workers, students, parents who take their children to school … travel the A-30 and A-7 daily with their vehicles to reach their destinations, making these roads one of the most congested in the Region of Murcia. For this reason, the launch of the new interurban mobility model will be a relief on regional roads, since new direct lines have been established from different locations. “It connects much more and better the municipalities with the Espinardo campus, and even the buses will enter inside,” stated the Vice-Rector for Infrastructure Planning of the University of Murcia, reflecting her “joy and satisfaction” that the mobility model includes your needs. However, he stated that “we will continue working so that the demands of the students are met, such as the commitment to sustainable mobility”, and that “we will be pending in terms of modifications and possible improvements in the new bus transport.”
Jesus Alcolea. President of the Youth Council of Murcia
“Ticket and voucher prices are affordable for young people”
The new regional interurban mobility model will start with prices per ticket similar to those in force. The single ticket will cost two euros for trips of less than 20 kilometers. In addition, two types of vouchers will be issued with ten trips: the 13.60 euros for the general public and the 11.30 euros for students. The ticket for a journey greater than 20 kilometers will be worth 2.4 euros. It is worth mentioning that all these rates include transfers. “They are affordable prices for young people, many of whom are students; an effort has been made to maintain them “, acknowledged the president of the Murcia Youth Council, although he reiterated the request to find a cheaper price so that this public does not see in the monetary a reason why they allow themselves to be convinced by other ways of transportation, such as carpooling. Another idea that Jesús Alcolea put on the table was to appeal to education and raise awareness about the benefits that the use of public transport brings at an environmental level and even to the family economy, “so that tomorrow they will continue to see it useful and accessible ”.
“Now we are going to be pending of small readjustments”, warned the vice-chancellor López, at the same time that she already suggested to the counselor to include one more stop on the Alcantarilla-La Arrixaca line to connect the Health Sciences Campus and, thus, that the Students do not have to walk approximately one kilometer to get to the college from the last stop. “These are the kinds of little things we have to do,” Díez de Revenga resolved.
Another redesign already planned corresponds to the La Manga line, according to the response of the neighbors: “We are studying it,” clarified the counselor. According to the new mobility system, those who wish to reach Veneziola (at the end of La Manga) must take the Cartagena-La Unión service and make two transfers: La Unión-Cabo de Palos and Cabo de Palos-Veneziola. This combination was established to avoid traffic jams in summer, when the town multiplies its population; However, in winter, the head of the branch assumed, “the neighbors say that nothing happens if buses enter.”
Two years of check-up
The companies awarded the first four concessions of the interurban regional transport model will be in charge of these services until the next two years, when the emergency contracts expire. This time has been established to polish the entire system, as if it were a pilot experience, the counselor compared, noting that from that moment the tenders for the next ten years will go out to public tender. He also explained that for the award of the four new services in the metropolitan areas of Murcia and Cartagena “we invite” three companies per concession, and that the same procedure will be repeated for the remaining six in early 2022.
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