The Murcia City Council took ten days to join, led by the president of the new government team, the popular mayor, José Ballesta, to the Metropolitan Public Transport Area project promoted by the Autonomous Community. An initiative to which the previous socialist government team repeatedly refused to take part, alleging that it did not specify what financing system was going to be included, while at the same time demanding 8 million from the Community for transfers in terms of transport to districts not paid
The mayor, accompanied by various members of his team, held a working meeting yesterday with the acting Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, José Ramón Díez de Revenga, in which, while waiting for further progress in the project of this Area, “short-term” changes will be studied in the service of various bus lines under the jurisdiction of the Community so that they can serve the citizens of Murcia. These changes will affect, for example, urbanizations in the districts of El Esparragal and Cobatillas.
“These citizens do not have a public municipal transport service and they see the Community buses go by without being able to get on,” explained the counselor, indicating that “in a few days or weeks it may be solved.” And the same, and also vice versa, with other neighboring towns such as Santomera, Beniel or Alcantarilla. The ultimate goal, he said, is “to coordinate the bus lines” and prevent services from overlapping.
Referring to the Metropolitan Area of Public Transport, Díez de Revenga recalled that its technical design, which includes the lines, the fare system (a single rate with usage voucher systems, frequent to certain groups throughout the area and all modes of transport) and digitization, among other issues. “It is a technical document that defines the offer of services to be provided and how it will work,” he pointed out, warning that the financing system that accompanies it “will come later, depending on the model and who joins it; everything will be easier if there are more collaborators”.
Trolley car
The counselor did not rule out the inclusion of the tram, “after technically evaluating demands and their fit” into the system, after also studying the cost/benefit, as well as other modes of transport, such as the BTR. Regarding the decision of the Murcia City Council to join the project, he said that he “celebrated” the “change of course” in the corporation that has allowed this adhesion.
“I have said on many occasions that the argument that the PSOE used not to join, such as that we had not paid 8 million, was not sustained because the same 2015 law that regulates transfers does not establish any financial compensation.”
The mayor, José Ballesta, stressed that the working meeting was going to set “the conditions under which we adhere” and that due to the fact that Murcia is the capital and the fact that it hosts important services such as hospitals and regional administrations and state and the AVE station and the airport, among other essential infrastructures, “the treatment must be different” from other integrated municipalities.
“We will defend the economic interests” of Murcia, he said, adding that “our priority objective is that the city and Murcia benefit.” He insisted that the coordination of the service of several lines with the Community was necessary, taking into account that the new public transport system of the municipality had to be awarded before the end of the year. This will unite the urban and district service in the same concessionaire.
Other issues were also addressed at the meeting, such as housing, roads and the expansion of the offer of low-cost high-speed trains with direct routes to Madrid.
Ten municipalities as a starting point for the plan under tender
The Metropolitan Transport Plan for the city of Murcia and its area of influence determines an extension of more than ten kilometers in radius, with the Murcian municipality as its center, and covers nine other towns in the vicinity of the capital, a territory where around 672,000 residents reside. people. In addition to Murcia, there are the municipalities of Alcantarilla, Alguazas, Archena, Beniel, Ceutí, Las Torres de Cotillas, Lorquí, Molina de Segura and Santomera.
The delimited area is “polynuclear” and special attention is paid to points that are major traffic generators, such as the Virgen de la Arrixaca hospital and the Health campus, the universities and the West Industrial Estate, halfway between Alcantarilla and Murcia (in the district of San Ginés). Intermodality (rail, tram and bus) is another strong point, together with a harmonization of fares.
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