Conca de Òdena urban bus celebrates the aim of one million passengers this 2023

The Igualada-UdL University Campus, in Pla de la Massa, hosted this Tuesday the celebration of the 1,000,000th passenger of the urban bus service, operated by MasatsTG DX, which links the municipalities of Igualada, Vilanova del Camí and Montbui. This year more than 1,000,000 passengers will have been transported for the first time in the history of the Conca de Òdena. The event was attended by the mayors of the three municipalities, their respective councillors for Mobility and representatives of the company MasatsTG DX.

The event served to highlight the importance of public transport in Igualada and in the neighbouring municipalities of the Conca, demonstrating the upward trend with the continued growth of users year after year.

Marc Castells, Mayor of Igualada, wanted to highlight “the quality of this zero-kilometre, useful, reliable, accessible and punctual transport that every day provides service to more passengers”. These bus lines are also tools for territorial cohesion, as they bring Igualada, Montbui and Vilanova even closer together”. The fact of working “together”, continued the mayor, “makes us stronger and allows us to provide an excellent service, thanks to the company and the drivers who, day after day, are the visible face of this service.

Marc Bisbal, representative of Masats TG DX, attributed this increase and the good number of passengers on the service to “the constant improvement that has made the urban and interurban bus in Igualada a comfortable, safe, reliable and sustainable alternative that more and more people rely on every day”.

The event took place in front of the University Campus, with the aim of highlighting the fact that part of the growth in the number of users of these lines is in the young part of the population (users of the T-16 and T-JOVE). Bisbal pointed out that this population represents “currently 35% of the users of the line, ten years ago the young population represented 8% of the passengers transported”.

Winner of one year free bus

During the event, the prize of a year’s free transport was presented to the Vilanova resident, Glòria Rovira, who was chosen from among the participants in the draw for the tickets, where those registered in Igualada, Santa Margarida de Montbui or Vilanova del Camí, aged between 17 and 65, could take part, as the rest of the age groups can already travel for free on a regular basis. Rovira explained that “he will use this free transport card a lot as he usually takes the bus to go to Igualada to the Hospital”.

This initiative represents the commitment of the Igualada Town Council and MasatsTG DX to the citizens and an incentive to encourage the use of public transport in the Conca de Òdena, inviting citizens to participate and celebrate together this significant milestone.

A 21% increase in users

In spite of the stop of activity that the pandemic meant in 2020 and 2021, in the last 4 years the number of users of this public transport has been 21.30%. Making a comparison as of 30 November, the number of users up to this date in 2019 was: 858,679; in 2022 it was 813,424 and in 2023, at the end of November, it was already 986,657. Currently, the number of passengers has already exceeded one million in 2023.