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Metro gains passengers in August while EMT buses lose users
Metro de Madrid saw a year-on-year increase of 2.4% in August, while municipal buses carried 3.1% fewer passengers, according to the INE.
Madrid’s public transport ended August with different results for Metro and bus services. The Metro recorded nearly 42.02 million passengers, 2.4% more than in the same month last year. EMT, meanwhile, carried 28.49 million passengers, a decrease of 3.1%.
The decline was also seen across all urban bus transport in the Comunidad de Madrid. These services registered 33.02 million passengers, 1.5% fewer than a year earlier. The regional figure covers a broader area than just the municipal buses of the capital.
Madrid’s trend contrasts with the rest of Spain, where urban bus use grew by 4.6%. Among the regions whose data is published by INE, Madrid was the only one to record a drop. Castilla y León, Murcia y Extremadura led the increases, with rises of 12.7%, 10.2%, and 9.9%, respectively.
The data show higher demand for Metro and a decline in bus use during that month, though they do not explain the reasons or allow the conclusion that passengers have switched from one mode to the other.