The buses and streetcars of public transport on the Island moved during the last weekend of Carnival in the street of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to 327,000 peopleaccording to data provided by the companies Titsa and Metrotenerife.
As for the buses, they transported 250,812 people in the reinforced lines during the Chicharrero Carnival celebration last weekend. In general data, they represent similar figures to 2020 and a slight decrease compared to 2019. Long-distance lines, especially those arriving from the South, experienced a growth of 16% compared to 2020 and 14% compared to 2019 For their part, long-haul routes in the North grew by 9% compared to 2020 and 2.5% compared to 2019.
The Minister of Mobility and President of titsa, Enrique Arriaga, points out that “these numbers show that more and more people choose the bus to travel to Santa Cruz de Tenerife and enjoy the Carnival”. He adds that “public transport has become the first option for traveling to large events due to its comfort, safety, efficiency and adaptation to the needs of travellers”.
This increase in the use of public transport has been reflected in all the lines that connect the capital with the main urban centers in the north and south of the Island, as well as the metropolitan area. In total, the company reinforced the service with 125,000 extra seats, and increased trips on twenty lines. The operation of the service was carried out without major incidents thanks to the deployment of a special security service that included more than 40 agents distributed both in the buses and in the interchanges of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and La Laguna, who ensured the proper functioning of the operation, which was carried out in coordination with the Local Police of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and with the State security forces and bodies.
As for the tram, Metrotenerife, a company that, like Titsa, is attached to the Cabildo de Tenerife, completed its special double tram operation for Carnival in Santa Cruz with nearly 77,000 passengers transported during the past weekend. Although the highest volume of demand was registered in the daytime Carnival with 61,400 users, the night service experienced a growth of 8% compared to the 2019 Carnival, prior to the pandemic.
Ratings of Arriaga
The island councilor for Mobility and president of Metrotenerife, Enrique Arriaga, acknowledges that “the demand figures have been somewhat lower, specifically, 13% less in relation to another weekend of the last pre-pandemic Carnival (2019, 88,273 passengers)” . “Although these festivities have been celebrated again, they have not been developed under the same conditions as other years, that is, in the month of February and with two weeks of carnival events. In this case, we have only had one Carnival weekend. Even so, the demand registered in the days of Carnival Day and Night, have been 61,400 and 15,300 passengers, respectively, “explained Arriaga.
Likewise, the vice president of the Cabildo advances positive data regarding the general demand for the tram, since the accumulated figure will be close to 7,000,000 passengers in these first six months of the year, which would represent 20% more compared to the same period in 2021.
