Madrid

Madrid City is the core of a very populated metropolitan area that now boasts nearly 6 million inhabitants. The area is the subject of intense urban sprawl and decentralisation of production, commercial and employment activities in the last decades.

Transport infrastructure is increasing urban pressure along corridors and therefore shaping the metropolitan area. Companies are locating close enough to the city but citizens choose to live further away, looking for lower prices and a more friendlyenvironment. Furthermore, radial mobility (from city centre to periphery), logically better covered by public transport network, is decreasing and orbital movements (inter-peripheral) are growing, increasing the use of private cars in these areas.

The guiding principle of the city of Madrid’s mobility strategy is the restriction of car use to make the city people-friendly. Highlights include: car restrictions in the core: parking regulation;restricted access areas, car-free districts, pedestrianized Streets Public transport promotion and delivery (intermodal hubs, Metro, suburban buses, park and ride infrastructure on suburban areas, alternative fueled vehicles, user information services, etc.) Soft modes promotion: cycling plan, new regulations to support cycling, more pedestrian space Optimisation of urban freight: new regulations, increasing number of reserved spaces Governance: Madrid Mobility Board (participatory vision and roadmap definition) Electric car: open process since 2009, strong public-private partnership, demo pilot, initial 500 charging point municipal network in 2011.

Madrid has established a practical scheme to regulate access and parking for coaches and tourist buses. This video explains how it works (in Spanish only):

Madrid is/was involved in EU projects:

EVUE (Electric Vehicles in Urban Europe), MADEV (Madrid Electric Vehicle), CUTE, SIMBA II, STADIUM, INVOLVE, 3IBS, EBSF2, ENHANCED WISETRIP, FREVUE, ICT-EMISSIONS, NODES, STARS, CIVITAS ECCENTRIC, ASSURED, IKAAS, MOVEUS, COSMOS, INCLUSION and MARES.