The Valencian government has released the final design for the CV-214 Torrevieja-Alacant route, which would provide public road passenger transit in Torrevieja and the neighbouring areas. Following multiple attempts over the last eleven years, this project identifies the new lines to be awarded concessions, as well as their features for future contracting processes.
The project, which was published in the Valencian Community’s Official Gazette on Thursday, will serve a potential population of 917,000 people in Alicante, Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Santa Pola, Elche, Crevillent, Guardamar del Segura, Torrevieja, Pilar de la Horadada, Orihuela (coast), Rojales, San Fulgencio, Catral, Dolores, Daya Nueva, Daya Vieja, Benijófar, and San Miguel de Salinas. The contract for the concession of the eight planned lines is anticipated to be worth 32 million euros over 10 years, with a fare of 1.40 euros per passenger (excluding of discounts).
Proposal
According to the Generalitat (Generalitat), the new concept maintains the operation of the current coastal lines while boosting connectivity to the provincial AVE network—the Orihuela and Elche stations—and the Alacant-Elx “Miguel Hernández” Airport. It also guarantees that it will reinforce the link between Torrevieja Hospital and the ten municipalities and residential communities along the coastline axis supported by the health centre.
The concession will feature a minimum fleet of 19 buses that will travel almost 1.3 million commercial kilometres and over 26,600 trips each year, or an average of 73 trips per day. The proposal implies that many of the routes’ destination and departure points will be the “new bus station” in Torrevieja, which is still in the basic stages of building.
The proposed reward lines are as follows:
- Line 1. “Alacant-Guardamar-Torrevieja-Pilar de la Horadada”
- LINE 2. “TORREVIEJA-ALACANT”
- LINE 3. “TORREVIEJA-PILAR DE LA HORADADA”
- LINE 4. “SAN FULGENCIO-GUARDAMAR-AIRPORT”
- LINE 5A. “ELX-TORREVIEJA (via Rojales)”
- LINE 5B. “ELX-TORREVIEJA (via Catral and Dolores)”
- LINE 5C. “ELX-GUARDAMAR-TORREVIEJA (direct)”
- LINE 6. “HURCHILLO-TORREMENDO-HOSPITAL-PILAR DE LA HORADADA”
- LINE 7. “TORREVIEJA-GUARDAMAR-UNIVERSITY-SANT VICENT DEL RASPEIG”
- LINE 8. “GUARDAMAR-TORREVIEJA HOSPITAL-PILAR DE LA HORADADA”
In order to lay the groundwork for future contract bidding processes, the Generalitat (Catalan Government) started draughting public road passenger transport service projects in 2014. According to the regional government, these projects “could not be operationally implemented after detecting, pursuant to the allegations made during the mandatory public hearing process, technical and legal inconsistencies in their underlying content, which made it advisable to conduct a more thorough analysis of the technical, functional, and economic conditions.” This is the reason for the ten-year delay in final approval.
With extremely poor performance, particularly during peak periods like the Pilar de la Horadada-Torrevieja-Alicante line, Avanza, which operated under the brand name Costa Azul, holds a significant share of the current concessions, including those for intercity traffic in Torrevieja, which the City Council will now put out to tender through an urban service.
As a result, the original CV-214 Torrevieja-Alacant public transport service plan was created in March 2018. It was made available for public consultation after being approved by the Directorate General of Public Works, Transport, and Mobility. Weeks before the regional elections in 2023, the Generalitat (Catalan Government) withdrew from the awarding process, stating that the proposal needed to be “updated.”
Author: Derek Appleton
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