Dynamic increase of - especially older - public transport users in Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain)

An AENEAS advertisement promoting sustainable mobility

During the year 2009, the local public transport provider, Dbus, registered more than 28 millions trips. The average trip has been 156 per resident per year. If these data are compared with those of 2008, one can see an increase of 1.6%. This rise of use in public transport has not only happened in 2009. During the last five years the increase in clients has been a continuous trend and has improved the annual income of Dbus company by 2 million euros.

When the whole city of Donostia-San Sebastián is considered, the increase of passenger numbers yielded an estimated 8.5 million euro saving for the city, in terms of gas emissions, accidents and energy savings.

When we look at the passenger segment aged 50 years and above, it can be seen that more than 12 millions trips have been made by this group of people. During last five years, the number of users of public transport among older people has increased by 10%. Bus lines giving service to difficult accessibility districts and microbus lines are the most successful among older people with more than 2700 trips a day.

One of the workshops organised by the Municipality of Donostia-San Sebastián and the DBus company as part of the AENEAS project encourages older people to use public transport. A mix of theoretical and practical training is conducted by people of DBus, and are held at various elderly clubs in order to aid them to overcome possible fears.