Engineering and Construction

The AVE continues to gain ground over air travel

Editorial Team

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Long-distance rail travel increased by 11% in November, while air travel rose by 1.7%.

The number of passengers who chose to travel on long-distance trains (including the AVE) rose by 11.7% last November compared to the same month in 2013, while the number of passengers who chose to fly within the country rose by 1.7%, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and reported by Ep.

Specifically, more than 2.1 million passengers traveled by air in the second-to-last month of 2014, while nearly 2.3 million chose long-distance trains for their trips.

The number of passengers using the rail system increased by 2.2% in November, reaching 50.3 million. Commuter trains carried more than 45.5 million passengers, representing a 1.4% increase, while medium-distance trains carried 8.8% more passengers, for a total of 2.4 million.

Meanwhile, bus ridership fell by 1.4% year-over-year last November, to 53.4 million passengers, while maritime ridership dropped by 4%, to 504,000 passengers.

In total, the number of passengers who used public transportation (urban, intercity, special, and on-demand) fell by 0.5% in the penultimate month of 2014, with more than 387.2 million passengers.

(Original article)