Over 22 million passenger journeys on Line 3 of Metro Bilbao during its first 5 years
Line 3 of Metro Bilbao, managed by Euskotren – the publicly-owned company answering to the Basque Government’s Ministry for Territorial Planning Housing and Transport – has clocked up over 22 million passenger journeys since it came into service. During its first year, from April to December, there were over 3.2 million passenger journeys and it broke the 5-million barrier during its first full year in service in 2018. The use of Line 3 continued to rise in 2019, when it registered an increase of nearly 6%, up to 5.3 million passenger journeys.
The arrival of the pandemic in 2020 put a stop to the upward trend in the use of the service. Line 3 of Metro Bilbao, in the same way as many other sectors and also public transport, was greatly affected by the health crisis and restrictive measures on mobility to contain the spread of Covid-19. The year ended with a significant drop in the passenger journeys generated (3.5 million). During 2021, and always depending on the evolution of the pandemic, the service began to show signs of an upturn and this recovery was consolidated in early 2022, with figures being close to those of 2019.
PASSENGER JOURNEY FIGURES OVER THE FIVE YEARS
- 2017: 3,270,684 (1)
- 2018: 5,037,321
- 2019: 5,334,446
- 2020: 3,534,756
- 2021: 4,184,286
- 2022: 761,696 (2)
(1) Figures from April to December // (2) January and February figures
The Kukullaga-Etxebarri /Matiko section is currently running at 100% capacity, with all services operating, to avoid crowds and ensure the general public can travel as safely as possible. L3 is back to fully running the Friday and Saturday day and night service.
Along with the regular train services, special services have been provided for different events, such as the Athletic football matches at San Mamés, Bilbao’s Aste Nagusia week of festivities, Carnival and concerts at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, over the five years.
As regards the specific importance of the L3 stations, Casco Viejo/Zazpikaleak consolidated as the most used station, as it accounts for over half the passenger journeys (51%). During the five years, the use ranking has remained stable with Zazpikaleak at the top, followed by Otxarkoaga and Uribarri, Txurdinaga and Zurbaranbarri (which have alternated fourth and fifth position), Matiko and, finally, Kukullaga-Etxebarri.
The Contactless Card, both in its money card and temporary card forms, has been the most common means of payment right from the start. Currently, individual tickets only account for 5% of journeys, a figure which has steadily dropped over the years (6.7% of the journeys were with an individual ticket in 2018).