The profile of the average user of the Barcelona metro and bus is that of a woman of up to 35 years of age who lives in the city. This is the most relevant data provided by the sustainability report carried out by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) over the past year, which also affects other characteristics of metro and bus passengers such as age, gender or employment status .
Regarding gender, in both types of transport the bulk of the people who use them are women, although with variations in the statistics. On the bus they represent 74% of the passengers, while on the metro this percentage drops to 63%. Regarding age, the subway is the preferred transport for the younger generations. 47% of people under 35 opt for this option while in the case of the bus this figure drops to 36%. On the other hand, the latter is the vehicle chosen especially by people over 46, which means half of its users.
The place of residence of the passengers is another of the data that impacts on the chosen transport. In both cases, the majority of passengers reside in Barcelona city. However, the percentage varies a lot between bus and metro. 84% of the users of the bus, which has shorter and urban routes, reside in the Catalan capital, a figure that the metro reduces to 67%. In addition, in the case of the underground, a quarter of the people who use it live in the rest of the metropolitan area.
The employment situation of passengers is another piece of information in the text published by TMB. In both cases, the vast majority of users study or work. On the metro this figure is 89% and on the bus it drops to 78%. Retirees only account for 5% of underground transport passengers but, on the contrary, this figure increases considerably to 17% on the bus. As for the unemployed, they account for less than 5% of travelers in both cases.
