ctb reports

At the San Nicolás station today, CTB General Manager Manu Tejada announced the winners of the 4th “A Look at Public Transport in Bizkaia” photo contest. He thanked contestants for all the 352 entries submitted. The winning pictures were those of Iñaki Alonso in the category of “Our Public Transport], Manuela Gallardo in “My Life on Public Transport” and José Ignacio Olabarria in “Innovations and Improvements in Public Transport in Bizkaia”. The consolation prize went to Cristina Vañes.

The Bizkaia Transport Consortium (CTB) rates the first full, comparable month since the introduction of the new one-off multi-mode tickets on 8 March. The new system has proven to respond well to the demand from public transport users in Bizkaia.

The usual customer service points of Metro Bilbao, Euskotren, Bizkaibus, Bilbobus, Renfe and the CTB Customer Service Office (OAC) at San Mamés continue to offer information and advice on which tickets best suit users in each case.

In an event held at the municipal theatre in Barakaldo with the participation of Provincial Councillor for Sustainability and the Natural Environment Elena Unzueta, Head of Environmental Affairs at the Provincial Council fo Biuzkaia Unai Gangoiti, Head of Natural Heritage and Climate Change Affairs at the Basque Government Aitor Zulueta and Chairman of GAP Internacional Carlos Oppe, the pupils in question received diplomas acknowledging their involvement in Actívate+.

The jury for the programme also awarded the prizes for the best projects out of all those submitted by the 19 schools that took part in the scheme this year.

TAmong other points, the plan is to analyse possible shortcomings, overlaps and duplications in the various modes of transport and work towards the implementation of a far integration system.
The first meeting of this new institutional cooperation body also approved the setting up of new integrated customer service offices.

The General Council of the CTB has approved a tender for the supply of a new track car for catenary maintenance at a cost of €1,270,000 and for the adaptation of passenger doors on 24 Metro units, for the amount of €1,520,000

• With investment to the tune of €21 million and 24 months of work, the last level crossing on the Metro network has finally been eliminated.
• The new track runs below ground for 543 m, including a new underground station with a single, 6 m wide central platform shared by both tracks.”
• With this change the residents of Urduliz have gained 6000 m2 of public space. Track layouts in Sopela and Plentzia are also being upgraded as a result of this work.
• The replacement shuttle bus service that has been running between Plentzia and Sopela over the 24 months of the work has ceased to run today.

Barik card users can now access discount fares on the whole network, and multi-validation is now possible on non personalised cards.

This inter-operability project was first introduced on Line 45 in February and has been gradually extended week by week, up to today.

CTB and Burgos Municipal Council this morning signed an agreement at the CTB headquarters for the development and implementation of a contactless card system on public transport in the city of Burgos. Under this agreement CTB will work with the municipal council to set up a system similar to the one currently operating in Bizkaia.

The Fare Integration Committee made up of representatives of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Bilbao City Council, the Basque Government, rail operator RENFE, Metro Bilbao and CTB (the Bizkaia Transport Consortium) – has approved the incorporation of persons accompanying wheelchair users, the blind and children as specific passenger types and the delimitation of zones for all forms of public transport in Bizkaia.

Today marks the launch of an information campaign for these new, simplified tickets. They can be used for journeys on Metro Bilbao, Euskotren, the Bilbao tramway and (for users aged 26 and under registered as residents in Bizkaia) on Bizkaibus services.

On other matters, the General Board today approved a cooperation agreement with the municipal council of Urduliz under which the council is to receive €400,000 to urbanise the area of land that will become available once the Metro line through the municipality is transferred underground.

The Bizkaia Transport Consortium (CTB) has begun work to refurbish the metro station in Plentzia. The work will entail a thorough refurbishment of the building and the construction of a new side entrance to replace the existing entrance. The project is expected to last 3 months and has a budget of € 213,300.

CTB, the Bizkaia Transport Consortium, in cooperation with Metro Bilbao, is taking part again this year in the children’s Christmas funfair with a stand that seeks to entertain youngsters while promoting the use of public transport and the Barik card. There are four areas, each for a different age group: a model car racing area with various circuits, a balance bike area for younger children, a games library and a photo area.

The new multi-mode tickets are simpler, and the same tickets will be valid for three of Bizkaia’s main transport systems: Metro Bilbao, Eusko Tren and the Bilbao tramway system.

As from Wednesday 23 November single tickets can be purchased up to 4 days in advance rather than only on the day of travel as was the case up to now.

The scheme seeks to promote a change in habits regarding water, energy, mobility, purchasing and waste management to encourage sustainability at schools and in homes.

The project is to include the construction of the substation building, the electroca substation itself, the power supply line from the Iberdrola transformer centre and the power supply line to Line 2

CTB's “Barik NFC” app has now exceeded 60,000 top-ups, at an average of 400 per day. 30,100 users have downloaded the free app, which enables Barik cards to be topped up from mobile phones running on Android operating systems".

The Bizkaia Transport Consortium will put out to tender the modification to supply these initial energy-saving equipment that will cut current consumption by 60%, starting with 30 new motors to be fitted to 17 elevators.

The tender envisages a budget of EUR 172,000 and an implementation period of 6 months, and will lead to savings of between EUR 8,000 and 10,000 per year, with a 10-month return on investment.

85% of the 3,500 interventions registered were to do with Barik card procedures.

In September, the Bizkaia Transport Consortium (CTB) recorded double the number of queries through its Customer Service Office (OAC) in San Mamés. 85% of the 3,500 interventions registered were mainly to do with Barik card procedures, information requests and claims. In September, Monday was the day of the week with the greatest number of procedures with an average of 195. The average number of actions per day in June was 94, 87 in July and 85 in August.

The two main tasks to be performed are the partial replacement of the tracks and the upgrading of the platform for track 2 at Plentzia station. The budget estimate is €557,893 and the work is expected to take three months.

In its meeting today the General Board of the CTB also approved the tender for the contracting of private insurance for CTB and Metro Bilbao SA, to the tune of €1,950,000 per annum.

Also approved was the awarding of the work for updating and upgrading the Metro Bilbao rail transport offer generator package (GOT), with a budget of €374,016 and a completion date of 12 months.

The last point approved at today’s CTB General Board meeting was the decreasing of interest rates on a number of commercial loans, which will save €5 million per annum from now to 2026.