Moventis, the collective mobility division of Moventia, has won the public tender entitled ‘Urban Transport Service in L’Hospitalet, El Prat and other Municipalities of El Baix Llobregat’, which falls under the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB). The project includes a total of 14 bus lines that connect the inhabitants of L’Hospitalet and El Prat with various urban and intercity areas of the regions of El Barcelonés and El Baix Llobregat, such as Barcelona, Esplugues, Cornellá, Sant Joan Despí, Sant Feliu and Sant Just Desvern.

The public transport service will enter operation in April 2024 and has an estimated value of 297,186,015 euros for an initial term of seven years, with the possibility of that being extended for a further three additional years. A total of 13.5 million passengers are expected to use the service each year.

This hugely significant contract consolidates Moventis’ presence in the area around the second-largest city in terms of population within Catalonia (second only to Barcelona), with more than 275,000 inhabitants. Furthermore, the new project strengthens and complements the position held by Moventis and the Moventia group overall within the region, where it is one of the leading passenger road transport operators with extensive operations throughout the provinces of Barcelona, Girona and Lleida.

The service will involve a fleet of up to 119 vehicles, which will be steadily incorporated over a period of time. Furthermore, the company will phase in new low-emission vehicles (including electric and hybrid) to replace the oldest vehicles in the existing fleet.

One fundamental aspect of this project revolves around Moventis’ dedication to quality of service and passenger satisfaction, a commitment that joins the AMB’s interest in offering the highest quality public transport to all its citizens. To that end, Moventis will have a dedicated workforce of 257 professionals taken from the previous concessionaire, thus guaranteeing a smooth transition and operational continuity for the least possible impact on the passengers who use the service.

“We are very excited about this new challenge and we are going to work hard to offer all passengers an efficient, high-quality public transport service so as to continue improving mobility for the people of L’Hospitalet every day, as well as those living in the neighbouring municipalities. To achieve that, we have extensive experience and in-depth know-how in the field of collective mobility, which we have been successfully developing in several countries via an efficient project team and our own proprietary technologies”, said Josep Maria Martí, CEO of Moventis. “Furthermore, launching a new project with the AMB in the second-largest municipal area in Catalonia and the surrounding municipalities represents an opportunity for Moventis to boost its presence in the inner metropolitan ring of Barcelona and thereby work and collaborate on developing more sustainable mobility for the metropolitan area of Barcelona”, he added.

Besides this new contract for urban and intercity bus lines, Moventis has also been operating the special public transport service for persons with reduced mobility (PRM) in L’Hospitalet since October 2023, also known as ‘door-to-door’. That new contract is an addition to the pre-existing service and involves a project based on microbuses for a total of 13 lines, as well as adapted taxis.