Malaga metro hits 18-million-passenger milestone with time to spare

Back in 2004, when the project for the first metro network for Malaga (the embryo of the current one, although with important modifications) was drawn up, the studies on likely demand carried out by the Junta's then regional ministry of Public Works and the company awarded the concession established that the trains would carry around 18 million passengers every year, but only once it reached the city centre.

Back then, for lines 1 and 2, the stations at Plaza de la Marina and La Malagueta were seen as the main draws for passenger traffic, while now the most central stop is Alameda Principal with a single-track, branch line extension. However, the reality nowadays is that the most popular destination for the majority of passengers, which is the old quarter of Malaga city, is fully covered.

This passenger number milestone has already been surpassed: to be precise it hit the magic number on Thursday 26 December. So the record has been smashed while there are still several busy days of the current festive period ahead, which will undoubtedly continue to add to that metro user total. This last weekend will have seen a lot of people out and about for shopping and leisure, and we still have New Year's Eve to come. That said, anyone seeking to use the special service on the metro on New Year's Day (1 January) can only be counted for the 2025 balance sheet. On that particular day trains will run every 20 minutes from 1am until 7.30am in the morning.

"We freed up a project that we found held up by the socialists previously in regional government and, after many years of waiting, we managed to bring Malaga's metro to the city centre," said regional Minister of Public Works, Rocío Díaz. "This milestone has been a revolution and has turned the metro into an essential infrastructure for the city's mobility. Last year we closed the year with double the number of passengers, and this 2024 we have reached the target of 18 million."

"We continue to work so that it continues to grow not only in terms of passenger numbers, but also in terms of service, with continuous improvements and with the extension works to the new hospital underway and at a good pace. Malaga metro has become the greatest example of the change brought about by the policies of Juanma Moreno's government", she said.

While awaiting the final balance of the year, which will be known at the beginning of January 2025, the data up to November already pointed to this being a record year, although the question of whether it would be possible to reach the aforementioned 18 million mark remained to be answered. The growth in demand over the 11 months to November 2024 had already left a very promising tally of 16.4 million passengers.

For comparison, it is worth remembering that the total for all of 2023 closed at 13.6 million, according to data provided by the Junta's Ministry of Public Works. The opening of the Guadalmedina and Atarazanas stations took place in March of that year. Therefore, it has taken barely a year for locals and visitors alike to get to know the full extent of this transport network.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that these good results have been 'helped' by public aid from both central and regional governments, which has substantially reduced the ticket price. All in all, the positive effect of the metro reaching El Corte Inglés and the Alameda Principal is undeniable, and the number of visitors has more than doubled from the 6.9 million it accrued in the last year before the pandemic (2019).

Not even the 'Dana' weather event, which drastically reduced people's movements around the city in the short term, even causing some infrastructure issues on 13 and 14 November (temporary service suspensions), has been able to slow down the metro's progress. In fact, more than 1.67 million passengers travelled last month, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

To date November is in third place as the busiest month for metro usage, with only December figures possibly trumping that position. The two busiest to date have been March (due to Easter) and October (returning university students for classes).

In conclusion, and going by the estimate of the 18 million already counted up to 26 December and the expectation that the year end will deliver many more passengers, Malaga's metro has managed to haul in no less than 4.4 million more passengers this 2024 than the previous year.