Why are there traffic jams if public transport is more accessible than ever and free in some cases?

The use of the car is still below pre-pandemic figures, 2% less than in 2019The car provides facilities that the citizen prioritizes, such as comfort and timeIn Madrid, 4.7 million people use public transport but the traffic jams do not stopYa we are in mid-September and the traffic jams are only growing. The pandemic is almost over and many companies have asked their workers to return to the office and schools are at full capacity. But, on the other hand, gasoline is through the roof, inflation is at 10.4% and prices continue to rise. That is, you have to move again but it is more expensive than ever. And despite the aid for us to do it by public transport, the majority are still clinging to the private car. Why?” It takes me 50 minutes to go to work by car, similar to what it would take by public transport but, nevertheless, when I return from work there is no traffic jam and in 15 minutes I am at home. It pays me to put up with the morning traffic jam and get home early in the afternoon. This gives me time to do more things than if I went back by public transport,” says Ana, a young man who lives in Madrid and works in the Las Tablas neighborhood. Like her, there are many citizens who continue to choose the private vehicle. May López, director of Companies for Sustainable Mobility, states that the private vehicle has cities made to measure, but this is changing faster and faster. On average, in the largest Spanish urban areas, the private vehicle allows you to go much further than public transport, and the longer the journey, the greater the difference. Save gasoline and avoid emissions At the national level, more than one million free passes have been issued (1,011,131). According to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA) this aid will save 118 million liters of gasoline and avoid the emission of 360,576 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, than if the transport had been carried out by car. In Madrid, it is practically free to travel by public transportIn Madrid, for example, so far this year, the Regional Transport Consortium has sold 361,160, almost 13,000 more than the previous year on these same dates, and since September 1 travel by public transport It is very cheap with the 50% help given by the community or free if you use the Renfe commuter train tickets. The latest data shows that there are more people using public transport but the pre-pandemic figures are not reached. There are 4.7 million users of public transport, 23.8% more than in 2021 but 14% less than in 2019. Cercanías is the transport that managed to recover the fewest users, and registers more than 580,000 users every day, a 23.2% more than in the same period in 2021, and 13.1% less than in 2019. 1,991,812 passengers on the Madrid Metro796,459 passengers on intercity buses1,346,848 passengers on EMT583,998 passengers on CercaníasY ni with those, the traffic jams continue to increase. There is still 4% less traffic inside the M-30 than in the same period of 2019 and 2% less outside the M-30, but traffic has increased by 1.2% compared to last week and 2.4% compared to the first week of September. The question is why do we still use the car when public transport is so cheap? More comfortable and it takes less time”At the moment, the car provides some facilities that the citizen prioritizes, such as the convenience of taking you from point A to point B, the time it takes and the ignorance and lack of awareness of knowing that there is a bus five minutes from your house that takes you where you want to go. However, this is changing and will change more. In three months, more than 150 municipalities will have to establish low emission zones, after the approval of the Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition before 2023. Thus, personal mobility will begin to be more expensive in economic terms but also in terms of efficiency, in terms of time. López insists on the lack of knowledge that there is to know how I have to move to be really efficient. “We are not aware of the revolution that is underway. Cities are adapting to bikes, they are putting electric public transport and it will be promoted even more. So, I think that in three months using a private vehicle is going to be very complicated”. Urban mobility: “We still prefer the car but this is going to change very soon”niusdiario.es”There is a lot of ignorance””It is also going to start to It will be mandatory for companies with more than 500 workers to establish mobility plans and we are going to begin to see how displacement is reduced. There is still a lack of tools to help citizens realize that using public transport is going to be cheaper than having a private car with parking, insurance, maintenance and more efficient in time, because if the vehicle is not electric, it will be increasingly more difficult to move around cities”, explains the mobility expert who assures that low emission zones in cities are here to stay. For example, EMT and Metro de Madrid are international mobility benchmarks. “We are the first country in terms of micromobility (motorcycles and scooters) and we have been the first in the country in shared vehicles, and I am no longer talking about shared cars but about bikes, motorcycles, buses, that is to say, there are many business models that are going to be incorporated into cities in a natural way and that are going to give us so many alternatives to move around and combine between them that will allow public transport to be promoted again”, concludes López.