Barcelona’s public transport has exceeded expectations and in 2023 it will reach figures never seen before. Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) registered more than 643 million validations during the year just ended, 18% more than in 2022 and 3% above 2019, the year that broke all records and saw few plummet. months later due to the pandemic.
In the worst moments of the covid, in May 2020, when the metro cars were completely empty and the administrations recommended not using public transport, the then CEO of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), Gerardo Lertxundi, predicted that the Recovery would take about two years. And so it was, in 2022 a passenger volume close to that of before the appearance of covid was reached. What even the most optimistic sector experts did not expect is that in 2023 the record figures of 2019 would even be surpassed.
The recovery of tourism and especially the bonus of unlimited travel passes – which allows unlimited travel for an entire month for 20 euros – have boosted the number of travelers, especially on the metro. With more than 440 million validations, it has grown by 6.8% compared to 2019. October was the month with the highest number of users, reaching 41 million. Precisely, the last day of that month, October 31, 2023, has become the day with the most users in the history of the subway (1.65 million registered trips).
High demand is pushing the central sections of lines 1 and 5 to their limits during rush hour. The carriages are packed to capacity even during off-peak hours and, although new trains are coming into service, the infrastructure does not allow for further improvements in frequencies.
The bus, on the other hand, with 203 million validations at the end of the year has remained slightly below the pre-pandemic numbers, when they reached 211 million. Of course, the trend remains clearly upward, with 16% more than the previous year. TMB sources especially highlight the good performance of the X1 line, which had a goal of reaching 4,000 daily users and in November it approached 6,000 on average.
TMB’s good results have also occurred in the metropolitan region’s tram, operated in this case by Tram. With 30.9 million trips, they are 1.2 more than in 2019 and thus a record number of validations is reached. In their case, November 8 was the day with the highest number of registered travelers.
The recovery has occurred notably in Trambaix, with 21.8 million, 18.64% more than last year. On the other hand, the Trambesòs, with 9.1 million, improves compared to 2022 but is still below the figures from before the pandemic.