Víctor Sigüenza, head of the Orihuela City Council’s Department of Transport, conducted a virtual meeting with the Valencian Regional Government’s Directorate General of Transport to talk about how the several road transport routes in Orihuela are doing right now. The conference made it clear that services need to be tailored to the municipality’s geography and demographics, as it is so big and has so many population centres that are spread out. The Directorate General of Transport said it was fully open to considering the recommendations and promised to answer the City Council’s queries.
One of the big things that came up was the link between Orihuela Costa and the Torrevieja University Hospital. This is important for people who live in this area because the hospital is their main source of healthcare. In this regard, the council pointed out that the Orihuela City Council uses its own money to transport about 10,000 people from different housing developments to the hospital every year, showing how much people need this service.
After the discussion, the Directorate General of Transport promised to extend Line 3’s route, which now ends at Zenia Boulevard, via the different neighbourhoods to get to the Torrevieja University Hospital. This extension will make public transport more available and bring it closer to thousands of people who live along the seaside.
Also, the inclusion of three new stations was suggested to make it easier to get to the bus and provide people more travel options. This would add up to seven daily frequencies to suit the needs of users.
It was also confirmed that line 6, which travels along the national highway, will connect directly to the Torrevieja Hospital. This means that there will be two ways to get to the same place, with a more steady frequency and a greater coverage of the area.
In addition, the Department of Transport has also told the Generalitat (Valencian Government) about the state of the bus routes that connect the many outlying areas of Orihuela. Many of these routes are very important for people who live there to get to the city centre and other public services every day. In this regard, the agency said that it is working hard on an emergency contract to make sure that intercity public transit continues to run smoothly so that people in these areas don’t have to deal with problems with existing routes. The Directorate General of Transport said it understood the problem and that the public transport service would keep running until the emergency contract was awarded. This would ensure that service would be available all the time and in a stable manner throughout the municipality.
Víctor Sigüenza, the Councillor for transit, said, “Orihuela City Council will keep working to provide efficient, accessible public transport that meets the real needs of our residents, both in the city centre and in the outlying districts and the coast.” He also said that the Department of Transit will not only keep the current transit lines but also strengthen and expand them in response to “distorted and self-serving information.” This is always done with the goal of strengthening public services for the people of Orihuela.
Author: Derek Appleton
No Comment! Be the first one.