The City Council awards the new public transport service that will reduce waiting times and reinforce lines

Avanza wins the contract by offering more frequent service and the implementation of its own line for the eastern zone.

The Estepona City Council has awarded the new public transport service in the municipality to the company Avanza. The contract will allow important improvements such as the reinforcement of lines and the reduction of waiting times.

The Consistory has allocated more than 600,000 euros to the improvement of this service, which has meant a six-fold increase in the current subsidy. The new regular urban passenger transport service is contracted for an initial period of one year and includes a reinforcement of the three current lines both in frequency of passage and in pick-up and drop-off points. At the same time, the City Council is already working on the specifications to put out to tender a contract for a total period of ten years.

The Avanza Group will create a new line in the eastern area whose route will run from the Avenida España traffic circle with Avenida Andalucía to the Mari Monte urbanization (Benahavís crossroads) to the Avenida España traffic circle with Avenida Andalucía. The frequency of the buses will be every half hour.

In the case of line 1 (downtown area), which will run from the access traffic circle to the urbanization Alcazaba Beach (eastern area of the urban area) to the urbanization Beverly Hills (western area), the waiting time will be reduced by half with the addition of a second bus. In this way, the frequency between one vehicle and the next will be 20 minutes.

The schedule of line 1 includes 42 daily routes, which will start at 07.00 hours at each end of the line (Mcdonald’s and Beverly Hills development), until 21.30 hours. The frequency at each stop will be approximately 20 minutes. As a novelty, this line will incorporate a stop at the Industrial Estate, from 07.20 am to 18.30 pm.

As for line 2, which corresponds to the west area, it is circular and runs from the stop located on Avenida Juan Carlos I to the Bermuda Beach urbanization (western area of the municipality of Estepona), passing through the Hospital, which is incorporated into the itinerary. This line will be reinforced with 8 daily routes, double the number currently offered to users. The schedule of line 2, which will make a circular route, will start from 07.00 hours, from the stop at Avenida Juan Carlos I to the stop of Bermuda Beach urbanization, and until 20.30 hours. As it will coincide in part with the route of line 1, users who need to travel from Avenida Juan Carlos I to Guadalobón, will benefit from a higher frequency of buses.

The concessionary company will be in charge of the complete maintenance or replacement of the vehicles, as well as the management of complaints and suggestions from users. In addition, it will equip the entire fleet assigned to the service with an operating and information support system (SAEI), which will provide information on board the vehicles about the next stop and other information about the service, both visually and acoustically.

The City Council will make the controls it deems necessary to ensure that the service is being provided with the highest quality. These controls will consist of inspections of specific services, controls at strategic points on the routes, verification of data and surveys of users of the service, either with its own personnel or with a company contracted for this purpose.