It is 07:00 in the morning. On the bus shelter, sleepy faces mix with yawns, greetings between acquaintances, backpacks for the university and others who keep the container to eat at work. 10:00 arrives. In front of the same marquee, the faces are different. Some older people, some, wait for the arrival of the '1' who goes to the hospital. A few streets up, some travelers wait to arrive with their suitcases at the airport terminal. More or less long waits and the most varied destinations: work, the town and even the beach. Thus until completing 4,146 stops in Spain, according to Autobuses de España.
in Spain. The vast majority, 91%, travel a few kilometers (90.8%) in urban and metropolitan trips, which concentrate the country's mobility.
Last year, 2.7 million citizens got on the bus in Spain. The vast majority, 91%, to travel a few kilometers on urban and metropolitan trips, which concentrate the country's mobility. The rest, on long and medium distance trips (9%). “The average trip is 187 kilometers,” he says on his website Autobuses de España. “People like the bus,” says Rafael Barbadillo, president of the Spanish Confederation of Bus Transport (Confebus). “It has been the great forgotten in long-distance transport,” he adds.
The train takes all the spotlights, the photos and the inaugurations. “But the train does not reach all towns and both modes are necessary,” says Alberto Cillero, director of Studies and Tenders at Alsa. “The bus and the accelerated modal shift from the individual car are key to sustainable mobility,” he adds. The state-owned public road passenger transport service management contracts cover 68,574 kilometers distributed among 2,403 towns belonging to 1,840 municipalities throughout the country and there are almost 60,000 buses running on the roads of the Iberian Peninsula. Regional lines are added to these figures, generating an enormously capillary network. “We are not the problem, but we are aware that we have a challenge ahead of us,” says Barbadillo. A challenge that has one word: decarbonization.
In Spain, it is estimated that transportation is responsible for 26% of the country's total emissions, generating more than 30 million tons of CO2 that pollute the atmosphere. A figure that will have to be reduced to comply with the roadmap set by Europe and reflected in the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan.
The latest draft, known in the summer of 2023, established that total gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would go from 309.8 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2eq) in 2019 to 194.6 MtCO2eq in 2030. This It means that the transport sector must reduce the intensity of its GHG emissions by 16.6%, a figure that is above the 14.5% required by the European Union. “This means that we have to increase our number of travelers by almost 40% between now and 2030, the same thing happens to the train,” says Cillero. “It is not a matter of comparing, but rather working together to offer truly attractive mobility solutions for people,” he warns.
Planes, vans and cars accumulate the highest number of grams of CO2 per passenger. On the other side of the table, trains and buses lead the lowest number of emissions. A study carried out by the Government of Andalusia has proven that traveling one kilometer in a car pollutes three times more than traveling one kilometer in a bus.
This is one of the conclusions drawn after analyzing 250,000 data. It is estimated that an urban bus emits 0.049kg of CO2 per kilometer and per passenger; this amount is reduced in intercity buses, which emit 0.032kg of CO2, in the same terms. While the European Environment Agency points out that combustion cars generate approximately 0.143kg of CO2 per kilometer and per passenger.
Europe looks at the bus
However, these numbers are not enough for Brussels. On its path to zero emissions by 2050, the European Commission has become strict with all economic sectors. CO2 emissions from buses and also large trucks must be reduced by 45% for the period 2030-2034, 65% for 2035-2039 and 90% from 2040. In addition, new city buses must reduce their emissions by 90% and become zero-emission vehicles by 2035. “It is not only about transforming the fleet,” warns the Alsa manager. “If we want to reduce emissions from mobility and reduce other externalities such as congestion, we must encourage its use and recruitment: attract many more travelers to public transport,” he adds.
From Confebus they go further: “We ask for technological neutrality.” Currently, the Spanish bus fleet moves between diesel, gasoline, some hybrids and a few more electric ones. “This ambition has a significant cost, financing is necessary,” says the Association of Urban and Metropolitan Public Transport.
In Spain, to date and according to Transport & Environment (T&E) data, of every 100 buses “only four are zero emissions.” A percentage very far from other European countries such as the Netherlands where the penetration rate exceeds 80%. «Leaving the urban environment it is impossible, at the moment, to cover the routes with any energy other than current fuels. There is no technology », he adds. “The entire fleet cannot be electrified at once, we have to transfer passengers from private to bus and thus emissions are reduced, it is the fastest way,” explains Barbadillo.
The other route is the incorporation of new fuels. “This is where synthetic and zero-footprint fuels emerge, such as e-fuel or biogas,” says Cillero. “The transition involves these biofuels, because hydrogen is still far away and current electric buses do not allow current routes to be completed over long and medium distances,” he adds.
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