Santa Cruz de Tenerife Bus Ridership Climbs 4.6% as City Plans Fleet Expansion
Santa Cruz de Tenerife is expanding its bus fleet by 61 vehicles after recording a 4.6% increase in ridership during the first half of the year.
Public transport in Santa Cruz de Tenerife is seeing a major shift, with new data from the City Council and the operator Titsa showing a 4.6% increase in bus ridership during the first half of the year. With 8.8 million trips recorded—an increase of nearly 390,000 compared to the same period last year—it is clear that residents are increasingly relying on buses for their daily travel.
Mayor José Manuel Bermúdez views these numbers as a success for the city’s sustainability efforts. To keep up with demand, the city plans to add 61 new buses to the fleet. This expansion is essential, as the Ofra-Costa Sur and Suroeste districts account for over half of all bus travel, with 2.5 million and 2.3 million passengers respectively. While the Suroeste district saw a significant 6.6% jump in ridership, the Ofra-Costa Sur area remains the busiest part of the network, growing by 4%.
Evelyn Alonso, head of the Department of Mobility and Universal Accessibility, says the city will focus on improving bus frequency on the busiest routes. While it doesn't have the highest total passenger numbers, the Centro-Ifara district saw the fastest growth, with an 8.3% increase. Meanwhile, the Salud-La Salle and Anaga districts saw more modest growth of 3.9% and 0.8%.
In terms of specific routes, the 905 (Muelle Norte-Ofra) remains the most popular, carrying over 1.48 million passengers, followed by the 934 circular line. However, some routes have seen explosive growth: line 936 surged by 142.7%, and line 948 grew by 39.6%. These figures suggest that residents are not only commuting to work more often but are also changing how they travel to leisure destinations like the Anaga mountains. Local authorities are now using this data to redesign the transport network to better match these real-world travel habits.