As from this week El Casar metro station (Line 12, Metrosur), located in the municipality of Getafe, has a new access, built thanks to an agreement made between Metro Madrid and Getafe Town Council. This entrance meets a demand by residents in the Los Molinos-Buenavista district, who asked for it so as to be able to have access by way of an underpass from this residential area to the actual metro network.

By means of this underpass, the new access links up two transit areas, overcoming the obstacle represented by surface tracks, in this case those of Cercanías Line C3. The measure has brought a substantial improvement to the mobility of the around 3500 residents living in the Getafe district of Los Molinos-Buenavista.

The Secretary of Transport, Housing and Infrastructure of the Community of Madrid, Pedro Rollán, visited the borough of Getafe so as to check out the new metro station entrance.

Rollán pointed out that “from the Regional Government we have facilitated the building of this new entrance, in which Metro has invested almost 188,000 euro, thereby providing a swift response for the nearly 2.3 million users who passed through El Casar Station in the course of 2016.”

IMPROVED ACCESSIBILITY

El Casar Station has a 750 sqm forecourt. It is equipped with a lift and an escalator, besides such other universal accessibility measures as dispensing machines with voice browsing and other items that facilitate the access of handicapped people from the street to the platform.

The station also has platform differential paving and graphic signage, besides Braille method information marked on the escalator handrail and the rest of station equipment. In this respect, special mention should be made of the fact that Metro Madrid is one of the most accessible in the world, with 1,699 escalators and 513 lifts in its facilities.

At present, 63% of Metro Madrid stations are fully accessible for handicapped people. In addition, an Accessibility Plan has been set into operation that foresees the installation by 2020 of over 80 new lifts in the network, which will make 73% of the network fully accessible in four years.

IMPROVEMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

The opening of the new El Casar entrance joins another series of actions that the Regional Government is carrying out in the field of public transport in Getafe. Amongst these, as of 27 March next, the Regional Transport Consortium will make Urban Line 3 into a circular service. This line previously covered the route between El Bercial and Los Espartales. Now, as a result of these changes, it will extend its route along Calles María Zambrano, Rosa Montero, Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Federica Montseny, besides connecting up with Las Margaritas-Universidad suburban rail station. The service will be operated by four buses.

Furthermore, in the environmental sphere the bus fleet is being renewed with one that is less polluting and more environment-friendly through the incorporation of 11 hybrid buses to serve the Getafe urban and interurban lines. In addition, in April 2016 Getafe brought in the system of bicycle rental by means of use of the Regional Transport Consortium public transport card (TTP).

These improvements are joined by the principal measure implemented by the Community of Madrid in the transport area this legislature and from which some 19,000 Getafe young people benefit, namely extension of the Young Persons Season Ticket up to the age of 26 years, with a flat rate of 20 euro.