“Regarding the use, people are happy, we had always demanded a service like this to get to the hospital.” Amalia Campos, president of the Sanchinarro Neighborhood Association, says in her conversation with Somos Madrid that she wants to start by making one thing very clear: the fast bus covers a need that residents have been demanding for years. Of course, once this issue is cleared up, the reproaches begin: “It has a tremendous and disastrous effect on moving around the neighborhood.”
The first fast and priority bus line in the capital (BR1), which began its activity in May 2023, has connected since November of that year (with its last extension of 6 kilometers) the entire Valdebebas neighborhood with the Ramón y Cajal Hospital . The project of the Municipal Transport Company (EMT) of Madrid has two headers and 38 stops. It is a 100% electric line that runs with bus models similar in aesthetics to a modern tram and that connects the residential developments of Valdebebas and Sanchinarro with the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, a reference hospital center for the residents of these neighborhoods. east of the city.
“The problems were already seen when they announced the route. Ana de Austria Street has been left in one lane, with the congestion and safety risks that this generates on a road that has a school and a health center,” explains Amalia. He denounces that “the portals that face that street have problems with deliveries or if an ambulance is needed.” According to this neighbor, “you have to cross the continuous line and get into the bus lane or the alternative is to stay there forever.”
Neighborhood protests arrived when the route was known and work began. Although, once the express bus has entered circulation, the main complaint has come from the traffic lights that regulate its passage. The complete route in both directions is just over 31 kilometers, of which 19 of them run along a lane completely segregated from the rest of the traffic, with the aim of guaranteeing punctuality of the scheduled times. Traffic light priority was established at intersections to ensure safety.
“Wide is Castilla,” Amalia responds when asked about drivers’ waiting times at this traffic light. He assures that “you can be detained there for up to 7 minutes.” The main “eternal” point is the intersection of Niceto Alcalá Zamora and Príncipe Carlos streets. Amalia believes that this ends up having an impact on traffic problems, but also pollution: “The speed has been reduced, but the number of gases emitted by the number of stopped cars increases.” According to data from the City Council, however, pollution in Madrid is at historic lows, according to measurement data for the month of October.
Another criticism comes from the location of the express bus shelters as they pass through Sanchinarro: “They are in the middle of the road, without any shade or refreshments nearby, so the temperatures are very high in summer. In the end people get away and then they run when they see the bus arriving.” It also mentions the reduction of parking spaces.
In Valdebebas, on the other hand, there are hardly any complaints about the impact of the fast bus. For Amalia this is due to the urban design of one neighborhood compared to the other: “In Valdebebas they have enormous avenues that are already prepared for it. Sanchinarro, on the other hand, is a poorly structured area, with very small avenues. The Rapid Bus arrived when they had just paved the two lanes on streets that shortly after lost one of them for this service. “There has not been a mobility plan adapted to the limitations of the area.” The neighborhood organization has consulted experts according to whom the route should have run along another street, Ingeniero Emilio Herrera, to generate fewer congestion problems.
From the Sanchinarro Neighborhood Association they illustrate the discontent with the results of a survey among the population of the area that they carried out in September: “1,257 people [91,6%] responded that they had noticed problems with traffic light synchronization, while 1,269 [92,4%] have detected an increase in traffic jams and 1,272 [92,6%] “They believe that a conventional line would have covered the same needs of the neighborhood.”
Results that contrast with those of another survey, in this case municipal, prepared by EMT in July 2023 (before the final expansion). The people consulted They gave an average score of 9.17 points out of 10 to this first Bus Rapid line. The users interviewed especially valued the external aesthetics of the vehicle, its comfortable interior, and the speed and safety of this mode of transportation. Furthermore, 20% of those questioned stated that they had stopped using their private car to make the same journey aboard these buses.
Traffic lights with artificial intelligence
Amalia points out that when the project was launched they met with the president of Hortaleza, David Pérez, as well as the general director of Planning and Infrastructure of the City Council, María Dolores Ortiz. When they explained the problem of the traffic lights, the City Council’s response was that “they work with artificial intelligence and would learn to regulate themselves.” Amalia adds in a joking tone that “they must be very bad learners…”. He says that, in any case, what they are now looking for is not a new meeting, but a solution: “We don’t want meetings, we want facts.”
This newspaper has consulted the Mobility, Environment and Urban Planning area headed by councilor Borja Carabante to find out their assessment of the first year of Bus Rapid with a complete line. However, at the time of publication of this piece they have not responded to the questions raised.
The extension of the first and so far only fast bus line meant the change of one of its headers, since it previously departed from the vicinity of the Isabel Zendal Nursing Hospital (Antoñete roundabout). Now it leaves María Mercedes de Borbón Street, continues along Secundino Zuazo Avenue (two stops in each direction), Manuel Fraga Iribarne Avenue (four stops in each direction), Armed Forces Avenue (six stops in each direction), Francisco Pi Avenue and Maragall (four stops in each direction), Ana de Austria street (one stop in the Hospital direction + two in the Valdebebas direction) and Niceto Alcalá Zamora avenue (two stops in the Hospital direction + one in the direction Valdebebas). The journey then continues along conventional routes without making any more stops until reaching its destination in the vicinity of Ramón y Cajal.
For the acquisition of the 12 vehicles in the fast bus fleet, the investment has amounted to 6,420,000 euros without VAT, of which 2,400,000 are financed by NextGenerationEU European funds, channeled through the Recovery, Transformation and Recovery Plan. Resilience. For its part, the construction of the segregated platform has had a budget of 12.8 million euros, of which 4 have been allocated to the highly controversial traffic light system of this line.
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