MADRID, 10 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
High-speed long-distance rail transport continues its unstoppable growth in Spain and last March it grew again by 23.7%, reaching almost 3.1 million passengers, according to the Passenger Transport Statistics made public this Friday. by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
More than 462.8 million passengers used public transport last March in our country, 2.9% more than in the same month of 2023, according to data from the Spanish statistical institute, which especially highlights the increase registered in the rail transportation.
By segment, urban transportation decreased by 0.7% in annual rate and interurban transportation by 2.6%. Within the interurban area, the INE highlights the 9% increase registered among travelers who chose air transport for their trips.
The INE data released this Friday show how urban transport was used by more than 287.7 million travelers in March, which is 0.7% less than in the same month of 2023. Transport by metro decreased by 1.1% in annual rate and urban transport by bus by 0.3%.
Regarding intercity transport, it was used by more than 132 million travelers in March, which represented a decrease of 2.6% compared to the same month in 2023.
By type of transport, air transport grew by 9.%, sea transport by 6.9% and by bus by 1.3%. On the contrary, rail transport fell by 7.6%.
In the case of rail transport, local transport fell by 9.7% to 49.9 million, medium distance transport fell by a slight -0.7% to 4.1 million, while long distance transport grew by 19.1%. up to 3.9 million.
High speed was the one that skyrocketed the most in Spain last year with a growth of 23.7% to exceed 3.1 million passengers.
In the case of air transport, peninsular travelers grew by 6% to exceed 1.5 million, peninsular travelers with the rest of the territory grew by 125% to 1.8 million, while passengers who made inter-island flights grew by 5%. .9% up to 520,000.
All the autonomous communities presented positive annual rates in bus transportation last March. The largest increases occurred in the Principality of Asturias (8.1%), Comunitat Valenciana (6.7%) and the Canary Islands (5.1%).
On the contrary, the communities with the greatest decreases were the Basque Country (-6.9%), Galicia (-5.1%) and Castilla-La Mancha (-3.7%).
Regarding transport by metro, it increased in Malaga, Seville and Valencia, and decreased in the rest. The Málaga metro presented the greatest increase, of 94.3%, and the Palma metro, the greatest decrease, of 9.4%.
INE data also show that more than 43 million users used special and discretionary transportation in March, which represented a decrease of 16.5% in the annual rate.
The number of passengers on special transport fell by 21.7% and exceeded 27.4 million users. Within this, school attendance was reduced by 23.3% and work attendance by 15.3%.
For its part, discretionary transportation decreased by 5.5% compared to the same month in 2023, with more than 15.6 million travelers.