Tenerife Awards First €3.7M Bus Stop Maintenance Deal

Tenerife's Island Council has signed its first contract to maintain bus stops. The three-year deal, worth 3.7 million euros, goes to two companies: Envera empleo and Efico.

Tenerife's President, Rosa Dávila, and Mobility Minister, Eulalia García, announced this at a press conference. They said the contract would greatly improve the experience for public transport users.

The contract is split into two parts: one covering 1,179 stops in the North and La Laguna, and another for 1,072 stops in the South and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. More than 100 stops, managed by local councils, are not included.

Each company will use four vehicles, with teams travelling across the island to check each stop. Each company will employ eight workers for this task.

President Dávila stressed the importance of making bus journeys better, both for comfort and safety. The contract covers cleaning, small repairs, and making sure information at stops is always up-to-date.

She also mentioned that 342 new buses have been bought this year, and Titsa (the public transport company) has hired over 300 new staff, mostly drivers. This is to handle the huge increase in passengers. They expect to have carried over 87 million passengers by the end of this year, a big jump from 44 million before free travel was introduced.

She highlighted that despite significant growth already in 2024, they had expected the rest of the year to be somewhat 'flatter'. However, the average increase is still over 6%, with more than 10% on some routes.

As an example, Dávila mentioned Line 108, which runs between the capital and Icod de los Vinos and is always full. She announced plans for more buses, including double-deckers, and possibly removing some stops to help passengers on longer trips.