On The Buses – Felipe & Leticia Celebrate 75 Years Of EMT

King Felipe and Doña Leticia made what for them was an unusual journey, yesterday, Monday 15th November – on a Madrid bus.

Instead of the royal chauffeured car, the royal couple rode the line 001 bus to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of Madrid´s Municipal Transport Company (EMT) in November 1947.

Felipe and Leticia took their turn waiting at the bus stop along with every day commuters by the Plaza de la Cibeles, for the new 100 per cent electric bus to nearby Atocha.

This EMT vehicle is totally ecological, emitting zero emissions and is being instroduced on all central bus routes in the capital.

Doña Letizia was seen chatting to fellow travellers who were also waiting to get on the bus – one of whom took the opportunity for a royal selfie.

From Atocha, the couple made their way to the EMT operations centre in Carabanchel for a ceremony to mark the anniverasary along with civic dignatiries including Rachel Sánchez, the Transport Minister and Madrid´s Mayor and Deputy Mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida and Begoña Villacís.

At the Operations Centre the king and queen were able to view some of the capital´s 2,100 buses, including some original vintage ones, such as the double decker, Leyland Titán, which was a staple of Madrid´s public transport in the 1950´s and 60´s.

As Madrid has grown in size and population so have its transport needs.

Today EMT runs 219 bus routes from 5 operations centres and in 2019 carried 439 passengers – or around 1.6 million people per day.

In line with the move towards lower carbon emmisions, EMT has also launched BiciMAD , with its fleet of 3,000 bicycles.

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