On Saturday, March 14th, the Local Governing Board of the Torrevieja City Council approved the awarding of the urban transport service contract to Avanza Movilidad Levante, SL. This was done after an open bidding procedure that took place over the past few months. Avanza Movilidad Levante bought out CostaAzul a number of years ago.
Federico Alarcón, the councillor-secretary of the JGL, said that the award includes an 18% reduction from the base budget of the tender, which was set at 82,741,350 euros. This means that the planned municipal subsidy over the life of the contract, which will last 10 years and cannot be extended, will be 67,847,907 euros.
More improvements at no cost to the city council
The winning company’s offer contains a number of enhancements that the local administration will not have to pay for. Some of these improvements are:
There are four places in Torrevieja where people can get help in person: the Bus Station, the Service Operational Base, La Mata, and the Torrevieja centre.
-20,000 more business kilometres each year, which will let the service grow without the city having to invest more money.
-Installing dynamic information panels at all urban transit stops, which means adding 166 new screens to the 20 that were previously envisaged in the technical specifications.
- The building of new infrastructure at the service’s locations, which includes:
- The addition of a separate box or pit for electric cars.
-Setting up a special car wash tunnel just for the bus fleet.
- Building a high-capacity refuelling station with two pumps and two underground tanks that hold about 40,000 litres each.
These things will happen on a 7,550-square-metre land reserve that is set aside for the infrastructure needed to run the service.
A key service for moving around in cities
The new public transportation concept intends to make it easier for people to get around cities, cover more areas, and provide a long-term alternative to private cars by connecting important residential areas, the city center, schools and hospitals, and business districts.
The service will include 12 urban transit lines, with 9 daytime lines and 3 nocturnal lines. This will let the service run more often and for longer hours.
During the summer and Easter weeks, daytime lines will run from 7:00 AM to 10:30 PM, while nighttime lines will run from 12:00 AM to 4:00 AM during peak season and on weekends.
There will be 32 buses in the new urban transport system, 26 of which will be hybrid and 6 of which will be electric. There will also be new security systems and digitalisation on board that will make service administration better and the user experience better.
Over 3.3 million people travel every year
The analysis says that the new model will carry more than 3.37 million people a year, which would be a big jump from the current service because of the new lines and better frequencies.
There are different fare options to make it easier for people to use public transport. These include the regular ticket for 1.50 euros, multi-trip passes, monthly fare, tourist card and the Gold Pass, which lets people over 65, retirees and people with disabilities who live in the city travel for free.
Eduardo Dolón, the mayor of Torrevieja, has said that this project is “a decisive step toward a modern, efficient public transport system that meets the needs of a city that is still growing. It will be a new model that will improve mobility between neighbourhoods, reduce the use of private vehicles, and move toward a more sustainable transport system that uses less polluting vehicles and new technologies.”
The service concession will last for ten years, during which time the investment will be paid back and a public transport system that meets the city’s current and future demands will be established.
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