On January 9 and 10.
During 2022 there were several dates on which the EMT urban buses in Madrid were free, to avoid concentrations of cars and traffic in the capital. It seems that the trend will continue in 2023 and that is that José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the mayor, has announced new dates for free buses on his twitter.
It will be next week, on January 9 and 10, that is, Monday and Tuesday, and the date has been chosen for the return to activity, especially school, after the Christmas holidays.
As usual in these cases, all urban lines will benefit from the action, from 00:00 to 23:59. It will be necessary to validate the ticket when entering the bus and, if one is not available, the driver will provide one, completely free of charge, to the user.
It is expected that thanks to the movement, the congestion of the city streets will be somewhat relieved, which will resume its full activity after the two weeks of vacation.
The truth is that on previous occasions it has enjoyed considerable acceptance. The first time that free buses were put in place was in January 2021 after the Filomena storm, but during the same year it was also active from September 1 to 15 between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., as well as during Black Friday in November.
The #SustainableMobility in #Madrid goes through @EMTmadrid
On Monday and next Tuesday we will once again activate the free ride on board Madrid buses, the best way to get around the city.#MadrirPorFinRespira#Madrid360 pic.twitter.com/a8tpklkE77
– José Luis Martínez-Almeida (@AlmeidaPP_) January 4, 2023
In 2022 the action was repeated, but with even more dates. In January, after the Christmas holidays; on April 19 and 20 after Easter, on June 28, 29 and 30 for the NATO summit; on September 1, 7 and 8, for the return to work and the return to school; the weekend of Black Friday and after the bridge of the Immaculate Conception and the Constitution.
It was during Black Friday when the best results were achieved, with the number of travelers increasing by 14.5% to reach 3,171,297, which is the record number of users since the start of the pandemic.
