SEVILLA Metro & Tram

Among all larger Spanish cities, Sevilla is certainly not an urban rail enthusiast's paradise, although it actually offers three different types of rail services, a tram, a metro and a Cercanías system, but each of them is rather undeveloped for an urban area home to a million people. Having visited Sevilla shortly after the opening of the Metro in 2009, I now returned to see the stations opened a bit later on the southeastern end and the second generation of trams on what is still a rather new line.

Tram in 'normal' mode with catenary between San Bernardo and Prado de San Sebastián

The single tram line is among the shortest in Europe and although it is badly integrated into the rest of the transport system, it is decently patronised. It basically connects the old town centre with the major hub at San Bernardo where passengers can change to suburban trains, while interchange with the Metro is also available at Puerta Jerez (not ideally, though) as well as Prado de San Sebastián, the latter also an important interchange point for urban buses. I think the tram's major function is to carry tired people after a long stroll through the city centre. A single-ticket for the occasional rider costs €1.40, not excessive, but compared to other typical fares in Spain, rather high for what you get. A discount is granted using a Concorcio stored-value ticket, but always a separate fare is payable for the tram, although it is actually operated by TUSSAM, the local bus company.

Technically, the interesting thing about this tram line is that about 2/3 of its route are now operated without overhead wires. Initially, the whole line had a catenary, but this not only caused a visual impact on Av. Constitución next to the famous cathedral, but even caused physical obstruction during the famous Easter processions when huge statues of saints and Virgin Mary are carried through the streets. So for some years, they actually took off the wires during Semana Santa. 

Archivo de Indias station with the Cathedral in the background with protruding overhead structure

Now the new trams use supercapacitors (huge batteries), but unlike in Zaragoza, the intermediate stops have an overhead structure to charge the batteries via the pantograph, and these structures are also quite ugly. Also the trams need to charge at each stop, meaning that the pantograph has to be lifted and lowered (the lowering is quite noisy if you sit in the middle section) and the trams have to stop for some 25 seconds, adding to what is already quite a slow ride through the pedestrianised streets full with tourists. 

Pantograph being lifted at Puerta Jerez station for intermediate recharging

Just the section between Prado de San Sebastián and San Bernardo still has a proper catenary, but this section is obviously too short to recharge the batteries for the rest of the line. This section is, however, rather long, so it could actually have an intermediate stop (the Metro serves the same stretch with the same two stations). The trams run very 9 minutes, with three in operation normally.

What the tram really needs to give it more sense is an extension, at least from its eastern end to Santa Justa railway station, as has been planned for a long time, and also because the main railway station is badly connected. Despite some metro expansion plans, all on hold due to the economic crisis, many tram extensions would make sense especially as a distributor in the central area.

The trams as such are quite nice, although I really hate the full adverts on all of them. While these make them look ugly from outside, the view from inside is somehow restricted, although it does help as a sun protection. The trams roll quite noisily, probably due to a lot of dirt accumulated in the grooved rails. A short section right next to the cathedral was built with interlaced tracks, which in my opinion doesn't make much sense as this section is followed by a very short double-track section before a scissors-crossover upon entering the terminus at Plaza Nueva. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to build and maintain if this section had been laid out single-track with a simple switch before the terminus? In this way the tram wouldn't have to make this S-curve-style manoevre as it approaches the terminus.

Sevilla's Metro is certainly a unique case in the world. Well, besides Budapest's old Földalatti, it is the only completely segregated low-floor urban rail system, and in addition, the only low-floor system using platform screen doors and semi-automatic operation in ATO mode. So, all these criteria certainly qualify it as a metro, although the alignment often resembles an old-style underground tram system as there are some very tight curves, no metro, except Chicago's L, would be able to negotiate. While the two almost 90-degree angles between San Bernardo and Nervión are the result of a planning modification to use the tunnels already dug in the 1980s for the Metro designed and relaunched in the late 1990s, especially the S-curve just west of San Juan Alto station is hard to comprehend! Why didn't they just build the station at a different angle in an area not occupied by anything else? But generally the trains (which are only some 30m long although the stations are all prepared for double sets) speed up where they can, so these momentary crawls are digestable.

Puerta Jerez - central metro station with narrow and curved platform

The metro stations are mostly quite wide, except the most central and thus probably one of the busiest, Puerta Jerez, is somehow too small and there are signs to prompt people to move up to occupy the entire platform. To my understanding, this station is entirely laid out in the wrong way, especially as the only exit to the surface faces in the wrong direction, away from the square and thus the city centre. Prado de San Sebastián also has a huge mezzanine, but in the end only one exit to the surface, although this should be a major interchange for local buses. Also, the encased exit (a typical one) occupies the entire pavement/sidewalk, as the rest of the pavement is now dedicated to bicycles, so to reach one of the many bus bays, you either have to walk on the bike lane or step down to the bus lane, whichever you consider less dangerous... So, at least the busiest stations should have various entrances. The design of the stations is rather boring, just concrete, stainless steel and glass, with green dominating as the Andalusian national colour, just like in Málaga. Some stations have large photos illustrating the construction of the Metro.

Montequinto - standard metro station design

The biggest problem with the Metro, however, is its bad integration with the bus system. In cities like Madrid, where you can actually explore the entire city by metro you don't have to care much about buses, but Sevilla's single line only covers very limited parts of the city and suburbs, so many passengers will need to get a bus, too, but altough you can use the same stored-value card you will have to pay two fares if you use metro and bus, so many people will opt for the bus-only solution. Fares appear to be low for European standards, but if you have to pay two 0.80 cent fares every day for one 'journey', this will amount to quite a lot during an entire year. For us enthusiasts, there is at least a Metro day pass for €4.50 for all zones, which leads us to another issue - the Metro has three fare zones, which I consider rather unnecessary for such a small system. Also, these zones are shown in a rather unconventional way, as 'tramo 0', 'tramo 1' and 'tramo 2' (tramo = section). 'Tramo 1' corresponds to all stations within Sevilla city. And fares are not charged for a certain number of zones travelled through, but by 'saltos' (jumps), so travelling from 'tramo 0' (western end) into the city would imply one zone jump... So while this is not illogical per se, it is rather unusual considering that the rest of the world has developed a quite common universal way of how to look at fare zones. And considering that Sevilla is an important tourist destination, visitors would certainly understand a global system more easily. On the other hand, the Metro hardly serves any important sites outside the city centre, so not many visitors are likely to take the Metro too often.

Metro train on surface section just north of Condequinto

Sevilla has had ambitious plans for three more lines, after playing with light rail proposals, i.e. with some surface sections with level crossings, the latest versions envisage routes similar to L1. While the north-south L3 should certainly be a prority, the east-west L2 is not very convincing, particularly as it is not designed to intersect with L1, which could be considered a major planning mistake for a system planned from scratch. As it will be built through the city centre with tunnel-boring machines at a significant depth, I think it should be possible to realign it somehow to make a direct interchange L1-L2 possible. My proposal is: coming from the east, L1 should turn north after Nervión and serve Santa Justa and then head west through the city centre instead of L2, while L2 should continue south from Santa Justa and then take over the western part of L1 at Nervión. This would give the Nervión area and the main railway station two lines and provide proper transfer options for everyone. The second problem with L2 is that it will not go to the airport, which would be a logical destination in the east, at least for a branch. Luckily it is planned to serve Santa Justa railway station. The circular L4 is a rather ambitious project and I think it could wait to be built until the other two lines have been completed.

Instead of building direct lines into the suburbs, la Junta de Andalucía eventually decided to make L1 semi-automatic and add feeder lines to it, although like in Málaga, using ATO doesn't mean you can't continue in manual mode on surface routes. One 'tranvía metropolitano' is supposed to run from Pablo de Olavide southeast to Alcalá de Guadaíra. The line was mostly completed along the outer section in Alcalá, but works were then suspended when the financial crisis hit the country. For another line running from the terminus Olivar de Quintos to Dos Hermanas, only the right-of-way was cleared before work was stopped. At the western end of the line, only some provisions were made and I think that planning had not been as advanced. So, currently there is hope that the line to Alcalá de Guadaíra will be finished one day.

After all, the Andalusian government is responsible for the largest number of failed and misplanned tram systems in the world, with these lines plus the never-opened tram in Jaén and the already shut-down tram in Vélez-Málaga! And who knows if the Tram-Tren de la Bahía de Cádiz will ever be finished? Granada seems to be on good track for a partial opening within the next year, but nothing's guaranteed. It may not always be the regional government's (PSOE majority) fault, often it is the local mayors from a different political party (notably PP) who refuse to collaborate in finding a satisfactory solution. But for any outsider it is rather astonishing that so many projects can go wrong within one administrative region, while they don't happen at all in other parts of the world, at least not to this extent.

Sevilla's Cercanías network is hardly relevant for intra-urban traffic, although there are actually two lines, C-2 and C-4 that run entirely within the city boundaries, but still, I think they are not very useful, both for the headways and for the station locations. I was visiting on a Sunday, so I couldn't really tell you whether they are busy. Maybe someone who uses them regularly can add a comment! The only service that appears to be a proper suburban line is C-1 running north-south.

Cercanías - San Bernardo station

LINKS

Sevilla Metro

TUSSAM - Sevilla Tram

Sevilla at UrbanRail.Net

ZARAGOZA Tram

The last stop on my April/May 2015 tour through Eastern Spain took me to Zaragoza, where a new tramway opened in 2011. Quite rightly, it is considered the most successful in Spain and during my short stay I saw many trams packed and almost overcrowded, so the only real thing I would dare to criticise is that they should have thought on how to increase capacity on the central section. Running mostly every five minutes except between 10:00 and 13:00, when a 7-minute service is provided, the offer is already quite good, but not enough considering the popularity of the tram. Like in Marseille, they should have extended the tram vehicles by now, from 5 to 7 modules, which would add some extra capacity, or reduce headways on the central section, with every other tram turning back at García Abril in the north where an easy loop could be built as the tracks up to this point are on parallel streets. The section beyond that point is less busy, as a large urban development apparently planned in 1998-2001 as a huge sign still indicates did not materialise around the Juslibol stop. At the southern end, trams remain rather busy up to the terminus at Mago de Oz (The Wizard of Oz) in the new district of Valdespartera where all streets carry names of film classics, so it's quite funny to hear 'Next Stop: Singing in the Rain'.

     Otherwise, the tram has a very French-style alignment, completely on a dedicated lane, partly marked off and partly on a lawnbed, I think just between Plaza de España and César Augusto, some vehicles may invade the route to access local shops etc. Between Plaza Aragón and Emperador Carlos V, as well as at Los Olvidados, there is a sort of Rambla (promenade) between the tracks. To reduce the visual impact of overhead lines, the city centre and the Ebro River are crossed in battery mode: 

Traffic-light preemption seems to work fine, so there are generally no annoying delays at road intersections, but a continuous journey with an acceptable speed. There are no unnecessary curves, and the CAF trams are generally better in curves anyway than the Citadis. To achieve this, however, the area inside the trams occupied by the bogies looks rather bulky, with only two face-to-face seats on each side mounted in this area. But otherwise the trams appear wide and spacious, and the wooden seats were quite o.k. for my back, despite their ergonomic shape (must be someone else then suffering with a different body shape...). 

     The stops all have a similar modern style, with a ticket machine and an information panel, plus an electronic next-tram indicator. The ticket machine only issues single tickets (€1.35) and allows recharging of the Tarjeta Bus, which unfortunately can only be bought for €2 at limited outlets, which can be a challenge for visitors, when they could be sold at kiosks or hotels as they initially carry €5 of stored value. While single tickets are just for one tram ride, the Tarjeta Bus allows transfers within one hour for just €0.74 per ride. And as the system cannot tell the difference, you can actually get on and off the tram for photos without paying another fare, but make sure you hold it against the card reader each time you board!

     There have been plans for a second line, running east west and actually sharing tracks with L1 on a short section between Plaza de España and César Augusto. While two branches are planned for the eastern end, I'm quite worried why they don't consider a branch going to the new railway station Delicias, which is a bit out of the way, although linked by some buses. But it must be the taxi lobby that is strong on keeping public transport away from a major public transport hub. Another reason could be that some think that the existing Cercanías line is enough to take long-distance travellers further into the city centre. But with virtually no metropolitan region outside the city proper, this line runs very irregularly, at times only once an hour! I'm not quite sure, because I didn't check it either, but I think that broad-gauge trains now have only one track in the city tunnel, while the other track was rebuilt for passing standard-gauge AVE (high-speed) trains. Please leave a comment if I'm wrong on this question!

     So with the first line so successful, let's hope that the second line will soon be built now that the country is slowly recuperating from the 'crisis', and that it will be done to the same good standard as the first line, clearly taking away road space from car drivers, but adding to what is a surprisingly lovely city.

     Bus maps were available at several outlets, but too small to be legible. The map also shows the tram line, but without any stop names. While tram maps are posted at stops, I haven't seen a place where I could ask for one.

LINKS

Tranvías de Zaragoza

Zaragoza Tram at UrbanRail.Net

VALENCIA & ALICANTE Update

I already posted my impressions on Valencia and Alicante back in early 2013, so this blog is just to update a few things I have observed during my recent visit at the end of April 2015.

In Valencia, I checked the latest extension, the newly introduced L9 from Rosas to Riba-roja de Túria. The line surfaces shortly after diverging from the shared airport line (L3/5) and after the first stop La Cova becomes single-track. The two intermediate stations also have passing loops, but apparently only the northern track is used at all times, because the southern (theoretically the inbound) platform doesn't even have any signs or ticket machines, etc. The terminus at Riba-roja is also double track (two stub tracks) but here also only the northern side is used. This sort of temporary station is really the weak point of the entire extension, as it is not at the location of the former Cercanías station (the metro basically replaced an old railway line), but almost a 15-minute walk from the town centre. In fact, they built a paved path along the old rail formation as walking along the main road would require a hill down and up again. I understand that the initial idea was to put the line underground through this town and continue to Vilamarxant, but then the cheaper version was finished. The service runs only every 30 minutes, so more an S-Bahn than a metro, and although the train I took was fairly occupied, the intermediate stations were hardly used. La Presa actually has a large park&ride facility, but only 3 cars were parked there that day! The train was a bit slow on the out-of-town section, but otherwise the ride was quite o.k.

Interesting to see when I read my earlier blog entry that in some cases they seem to have listened to what I had criticised... With the opening of L9, the entire line numbering system was changed to disentangle the network a bit, a looks much cleaner now with a different number for each routing, and the old line 2 is back on the map! They also added accoustic annoucements to warn passengers about the train's destination before a junction (for example "Este tren finaliza su trayecto en Marítim-Serreria"), also line numbers are now shown on train fronts and on next-train indicators! Apparently as I was told, there were lots of errors and mistakes in signage when the new numbers were introduced, some so severe from what I saw on photos that hopefully the responsible person was sacked, but good news is that within quite a short period they seem to have it all fixed.

The rest of the afternoon I spent revisiting the long interurban southern L1 to Villanueva de Castellón I had first travelled on in 2000. As I missed one train at Àngel Guimerà I had to spend 40 minutes before the next train would go out there, so I had time to take a few pictures at Sant Isidre where they had built a new railway station for some regional lines that are currently unable to reach Valencia Nord (they will soon return there but running via Fuente San Luís and backing up into Valencia Nord!). Anyway, eventually I got on my L1 train, quite full, so thought they could really run more often at least to Picassent. I was using a stored-value ticket and as Riba-roja was the last point where I had checked in, and that was already a while ago, I was worried whether the ticket inspectors who came on at Torrent would accept my ticket, but they did. I got off at L'Alcúdia to see at least one of these villages the line serves, but that was just a sleepy almost empty place, so I had to wait another 40 minutes to carry on. While other stations have those Check-in/Check-out machines on all platforms, here I actually had to search for one, placed inside the station building only! When I eventually got to Villanueva, I couldn't bother to hang around there and quickly checked out and in again to return on the same train. I could have taken the risk and not check my ticket, but although that is in zone D, fares are pretty low in Valencia anyway. I was positively surprised that the track on that line, apparently renovated not too long ago as some still-standing signs said, was quite good and the train actually ran faster than on the new L9, but unfortunately the seats in these new trains are simply too hard and uncomfortable, especially on such long journeys! While most stations have standard updated signs, two stops seem to have missed this round of modernisation, Benimodo, which shows signs dating from 1988, and Col.legi El Vedat, which has no signs at all, and is only used by young students from a nearby school (unfortunately they just left for home when I was travelling past...).

In Alicante I basically checked out the new line 2 to Sant Vicent del Raspeig, which had been completed years ago but only opened several months after my previous visit. This line is a typical modern tramway, all on reserved right-of-way through a very urban environment, but it is pretty slow and only runs every 15 minutes. So my major complaint about the Alicante system are the long headways, which at 30 minutes are even worse on L3 and L4 (but there restricted by a single-track section). But L2 could really run more often as it does become quite busy. I was surprised to see one tram operating as a 2-car unit, but that doesn't help much, if such a compound only appears every now and then (I think the students' travelling habits are not so predictable!). The shared tunnel section does not seem to be close to capacity yet.

Another negative issue in Alicante is the lack of an easy-to-use day ticket, especially being a tourist destination! So, as I didn't really need a 10-ride ticket, I had to buy a single ticket (1.45€) before/upon each boarding. I wonder whether this is the only city in Spain with ticket machines inside the trams? And it seems they have a problem with fare evasion, because at one point a brigade of at least 10 ticket inspectors invaded the tram, supported by some security people!

Later I had a look whether the old 4L branch from Sangueta to Puerta del Mar was still in place or disconnected or even dismantled, but it is still there, even the tram signals were still working, just the huge train indicator at Puerta del Mar looked rather abandoned. 

Read my previous blog posts on Valencia & Alicante! 

PALMA (Mallorca) Metro

This has been my second visit to Palma, the first was in January 2009, not too long after the Metro had opened in 2007. I have come back now to take a few more pictures for my forthcoming "Metro & Tram Atlas Spain" due to be released later this year.

Palma is actually a very nice city, but the Metro is close to useless for the city, in fact it is probably the most useless metro system in Europe and possibly in the world. It is only good to transport students from the city centre to the university campus located some 7 km outside of town. Although this would normally be enough reason for such a rail line it seems that Palma's students prefer other options for some reasons. Frequencies are rather those of typical S-Bahn systems, with a train every 15 minutes during busier times, and only every 30 minutes during other times, with no service at all on Saturday afternoon and Sundays. Like any university campus, this one is spread out but the metro station is not located somewhere in the middle but on the fringe of the campus requiring long walks from some areas. So, you could call it the Metro where your seat is guaranteed.

I'm now talking about the original metro line, which is now officially M1. This metro line was also the most unexpected to be built and probably the fastest to be put into service (although it had to be closed for several months shortly after opening because one of the underground stations was flooded and apparently this possibility had not been taken into account during the hurried planning. About 80% of the line is underground, although it doesn't go through any densely built-up areas, instead it only runs through an industrial estate where the visual impact of some sort of surface line wouldn't have caused any problems. Also the university terminus is underground, although it lies on the edge of the campus and a surface station wouldn't have disturbed anyone. So, all in all, a lot of money was wasted for something that was not really a necessity. Everyone knows that I'm a devoted metro enthusiast, but for Palma, I think, some sort of light rail within a larger context would have been a much better choice.

The line ends at Pl. Espanya, which is the city's major interchange point. But as there is no proper fare integration, of course, noone would use the metro for just 1-2 stops to change to a bus at Pl. Espanya paying another full fare, and there are plenty of buses available along the same route. So, finding some kind of deal for a common fare system is urgently required. Talking about fares, like in most Spanish cities, these are relatively low, but in the case of Palma rather unpractical, as there is no multiple-ride ticket or day pass, so you need to buy a single ticket each time you want to enter the system, as stored-value cards are only available for people living in Mallorca! So each time you enter the system, you have to get a paper ticket for 1.60€, and quite uncommonly, these tickets carry a QR code you have to hold against a reader to open the doors. But at least in 50% of all my entries, I had problems with these readers and had to try various times. As you have to do the same procedure on exiting due to additional fare zones on the regional lines, this would normally lead to some overcrowding at the exit gates. So I don't really understand why they chose such a system not used anywhere else I have been to, it's more what you'll find at theme parks or so. Probably most riders are regular riders who use a smartcard instead.

Line M1 is not badly built, though. The short 2-car trains offer a smooth ride, track seems to be properly laid (it certainly helped that the metro line is actually part of a larger railway system), and even the stations are rather pleasant. The city terminus at Pl. Espanya was generously/excessively laid out with 10! terminal tracks (FGC handles much denser traffic with only five tracks at its Pl. Catalunya terminus in Barcelona!), and although the platforms lie deep enough on level -2, the location of the escalators would not allow an easy extension into the city centre proper, but such far-sighted issues were probably irrelevant during the speedy planning. Another flaw of this huge terminus is the lack of an underground walkway to the old town area, instead people have to cross a 6-8 lane main road on the surface. This underground hub also includes a bus terminal for regional buses, but apparently, some of these have to take a long detour to actually get in there... Those buses are part of the TIB system which also includes the regional rail lines to Manacor and Sa Pobla via Inca. That the ever-changing Balearic governments are not too good at planning can also be seen in the frustrated project for a "tram-train" from Manacor to Artà in the east of the island. An old railway alignment was prepared for this and even some partly low-floor trams were purchased from Vossloh, but the next government simply cancelled the advanced project and now they have six Citylink trams noone wants and needs. So to give them some reason to be, they operate three morning express trains between Inca and Palma, for which a low-floor platform extension had to be built into the tunnel at Pl. Espanya.

In 2013, line M2 was invented, but this did not require any construction, but was rather a rebranding and service modification for local services now running between Palma and Marratxí serving some villages that have grown to become suburbs. Initially started with new EMUs acquired for the regional services, M2 is now served by metro rolling stock not needed on line M1. As a result, many of the new EMUs are waiting in the depot, as electrification of the outer stretches of the regional lines has been delayed. Compared to the acceptable stations on line M1, those on M2 are simple, if not primitive stops, and the route reminded me a bit of the outer sections of the Valencia Metro, as at some stops you can see an old station building at a lower level and a high platform built next to it. Serving proper villages, the line has some decent ridership throughout the day. At Marratxí, ideally line M2 should terminate on a track between the continuing tracks served by regional trains, but instead they use a bay track on the northern side sharing an island platform with inbound regional trains, which offer convenient connections, with M2 leaving shortly after the regional trains come through. But to change trains in the outbound direction, passengers have to change platforms via an underpass and waiting times for connecting trains are longer. It would probably be advisable to make M2 trains switch to the proper metro tracks as they enter the tunnel, so M1 and M2 would share the same platforms at Son Costa/Son Fortesa and J. Verdaguer and thus offer an improved service at these stations, whereas now it is not clearly signposted which platform will have the next train towards Pl. Espanya.

Next-train indicators are located on the platforms, but many of them did not work. And when they work, they show the next five trains, but who cares about further trains, generally the next two should be enough. In fact, even the second train is irrelevant in Palma, although this is sometimes useful on busy metros where one might skip an overcrowding train knowing the next is following shortly. But as said before, overcrowding is certainly not a problem in Palma...

Besides the basic M2 stations, the image of the Metro is also suffering from many of the trains covered with graffiti. Inside they usually looked o.k. although some litter was lying around. The stations are generally tidy and graffiti-free. Illumination of the underground stations is o.k. but could be slightly brighter. From the train, all stations look rather dim due to the dark windows.

So what could be done to give this metro more sense? Probably rebuilding the entire M1 into a low-floor light rail system and connect it to a city-wide tram system would be the best choice. They could ask their colleagues in Cologne who have enough experience in changing high platforms to low platforms with destroying the platforms, simply by raising the ballast trackbed in the stations. The size and layout of Palma are quite ideal for a good tram system, with several branches radiating from a circular Avenidas route, plus an old town route now served by many bus lines. But a first step really has to be proper fare integration with easy-to-use day tickets for occasional riders and tourists.

Tranvía de Sóller

Visiting Palma, an urban rail enthusiast has to visit the heritage tram in Sóller, too, no doubt. Although the 4 km line is used also by some locals, it is primarily a tourist attraction, and a very popular one. Even in late April many trains (they are made of up to four cars!) are completely full, and at 5.50€ for a single ride, this must be quite a good business. But riding old trams with wooden benches on worn-out track has never been my favourite pastime, but I did, of course go on a full round trip and took lots of photos, too.

LINKS

Palma Metro

Palma Metro at UrbanRail.Net

TENERIFE Tranvía

During my recent winter escape holiday on the island of Tenerife at the end of January 2015 I had the chance to explore its small tram system, el Tranvía de Tenerife, and thus do the necessary research for my forthcoming 'Metro & Tram Atlas Spain' due to be released later this year.

All in all, the modest 2-line tram system has a very French feel to it, not just because of the Alstom Citadis trams used with their 5-colour scheme (I prefer the blue end to the green one), but especially for the alignment chosen. The routes are on reserved right-of-way throughout, and pretty well integrated into the urban environment which with the arrival of the tram certainly experienced an improvement. I was surprised that the decision-makers at the time were strong enough to really reduce space for cars, be it by taking away car lanes or parking spaces, in favour of a reserved route even through the older parts of town where hardly good alternatives for car traffic exist. So, all in all, travelling on the tram is quite fluid, and traffic lights seem well-adjusted so that there are no annoying waiting periods. There are, however, numerous roundabouts which the trams pass through the middle, and having done the entire route also twice driving in a car, I'm not convinced about this solution. When trams pass through, cars actually, or at least, get a red light, but this is somehow contradictory to a roundabout philosophy (I observed, however, that in Tenerife, many roundabouts are illogical, and that suddenly you get a red light to allow pedestrians to cross or even worse, that suddenly you get a 'give way' sign in the roundabout!). Anyway, I would think that these roundabouts are too often the cause of accidents between trams and cars, although I don't know what Tenerife's record is and I did not experience any 'almost hit' situation, in fact, I observed that the locals drive rather cautiously and slowly.

Many track sections are covered by lawn, even on the central section between La Paz and Weyler, which is unusual, as in many other cities such sections would rather be paved to allow emergency vehicles to use the reservation. Between Weyler and Fundación, the tracks are embedded in the roadway, although very limited access is allowed for vehicles. I think that grooved rail was used on all sections when actually Vignol tracks are normally more pleasant to ride on and some sections would certainly have allowed that.

What is pretty fascinating about Tenerife's first line is that on its 12.5 km route it rises from sea level in the capital Santa Cruz up to some 550 m in La Laguna, the old capital and university city of the isle. Thus from some points you get an nice view of the harbour and Santa Cruz. This difference in altitude also explains the somewhat detour the tram takes between the two termini. In Santa Cruz, the two stops Weyler and Teatro Guimerá serve the city centre proper, whereas the trams continue down to the Intercambiador, which is a huge bus station. Unfortunately, the tram is not directly integrated into the complex, so transferring passengers need to walk a bit between buses and trams. Before the big economic crisis, a train line was planned south to Tenerife Sur airport and Los Cristianos, I guess the terminus for that line would also be part of this hub.

So while L1 links the two centres of what is an agglomeration with some 400,000 inhabitants, the layout of the 3.5 km L2 is not really convincing. L1 runs about every 5 minutes on weekdays, whereas L2 has a tram only every 10 minutes or so. It really feels like a second-class annex, requiring a transfer to L1 for almost everybody. And these transfer options are not too convenient, because they are also related to the least convincing sections of the route alignment: both junctions were put below street level – a good thing a such, because it avoids conflicts with cars at two roundabouts – but these underpasses are not well built (a bit like the flaws on Madrid's Metro Ligero): the Citadis, not too good in curves anyway, have to crawl through them at minimum speed! So passengers from the Tíncer end of this line who want to get into Santa Cruz, need to crawl through one of these underpasses twice and change trams at El Cardonal next to the tram depot. So, people who would board L2 at San Jerónimo would probably be faster walking to Taco station and get L1 there directly. And to add to the inconvenience, the two stops shared by both lines have side platforms instead of the otherwise prevalent island platforms (despite of these being the majority, an announcement is heard at these: 'parada con andén central'), so it is not surprising that L2 trams run half empty compared to the well-patronised L1 trams.

The stops all have a standard design, simple, but well done, each with two multilingual ticket machines and an information panel with a map and tram frequencies. As said before, most have island platforms, but some have side platforms. In the case of Príncipes de España, the island platform is actually part of a central Rambla (esplanade). The island platforms are generally accessible via ramps at both ends. The platform height matches exactly the tram floor. So, full accessibility has been achieved, although the steepness of some stops, notably Conservatorio, may be a challenge for wheelchair users. What I appreciate is that the name of the stop is written in big letters on flag-like panels, so they are easily identifiable even for car drivers and thus serve for orientation. The M-logo, however, is not so convincing.

With an average distance between stops of more than 600 m on L1, I think there should be a couple of more stops to give better coverage, notably between Puente Zurita and Cruz del Señor (830 m) in a densely built-up area with a significant gradient, an additional stop inside the big roundabout halfway between these two stops is recommendable. And Las Mantecas stop should really be relocated some 250 m further south just after the ramp to give service to existing housing estates, whereas now it is in the middle of nowhere on a steep gradient. If the area further up towards Campus Guajara gets developed, an additional stop could be added. Similarly, there could be an additional stop between San Jerónimo and the terminus Tíncer (850 m) as the latter is up on a steep hill and noone wants to climb up the hill to catch a tram.

The 26 (or so) Citadis trams are standard Citadis vehicles, with an acceptable interior distribution (especially enough space in the modules with doors), although the single-leaf door at the front leads to some congestion especially as everybody boarding needs to validate their ticket somehow (see below). But I have never been happy with the Citadis' behaviour in curves, luckily, except those described in the underpasses, there aren't any that I would have classified as ridiculous or horrible, as the overall alignment and track layout is quite satisfying, no unnecessary turns or deviations from what is a rather straight-forward route.

There have been several proposals for extensions, notably from the La Laguna end to the northern (more domestic) airport, from Tíncer southwest to La Gallega, the only area available for urban expansion in Santa Cruz, and a second cross-city route that would connect to L1 at Intercambiador, serving the newer parts of the city before turning into the old centre, intersection with L1 at Weyler and heading northeast along Méndez Núñez street towards the north pier of the harbour. It will be interesting to see how the later route will be laid out, as the street in question, besides the Rambla, is one of only a few that actually allow some fluid car traffic, so restricting access for cars here too would be quite a brave decision. But certainly, the tram route would be useful, as it would serve the new landmark Auditorio and the Congress Center. Many areas of Santa Cruz will still be left without tram service, impossible to implement as most streets are too narrow and too steep, although a direct tram line from La Cuesta down into the Santa Cruz centre along the historic route could be feasible if desired.

Unfortunately, like so often in Spain, the positive French influence did not affect the fare system and integration with the local bus company TITSA, although there are several fare options which allow transfer between tram and buses in the metropolitan area (TITSA serves the entire island). Single fares on the tram without transfer to buses are just 1.35 EUR, and a day pass for the tram only is 4.50 EUR: although the ticket might suggest 'guagua' (Canarian Spanish for bus) + tranvía, it is only valid on the tram! So, this ticket seems to be made for tram fans only, for anybody else a multi-ride ticket (5 trips for 6 EUR) or a BonoVía (a money value card sold at 15 or 25 EUR that deducts 1.05 EUR per tram ride plus a small transfer fee if changing to a bus) is a better deal. Even the day pass needs to be validated upon each boarding (each time the machine stamps a car code on the reverse of the ticket so inspectors would see immediately if you forgot to validate it). Many of the locals, especially the younger ones, use their smartphones which they hold against a QR code posted all through the trams (Vía-Móvil system). TITSA operates urban buses with varying headways, they do have a timetable booklet, but are unwilling to produce a map it seems. When I asked why they didn't have one, the lady at the Intercambiador counter answered that there were too many lines to show on a map. I asked her how she thought that proper cities like Paris or Madrid were able to produce bus maps? Unfortunately, I have noticed repeatedly that when a company is in charge of an entire region, they neglect the service they are supposed to provide in the urban area. So, the local population would probably be better served if there was a single transport operator for trams and buses for the metropolitan area, and a different company for regional buses serving the rest of the island.

LINKS

Metropolitano de Tenerife (Tram operator)

Tenerife Tram at UrbanRail.Net