Tenerife Tram is held this Wednesday, June 2nd, 14 years of service. During this time the 26 trams (Citadis 302-Alstom) have made 2,000,000 commercial trips to transport more than 185,500,000 passengers. Two years after the inauguration of Line 1, Line 2 (2009) started operating, so the current tram network covers 66% of the population of the metropolitan area through its 25 stops and 15 kilometres of route.
The first vice president of the Island Government and President of Metrotenerife, Enrique Arriaga, wants to underline the effort and dedication that the 200 employees of the tram have been developing, especially in the difficult moments of the pandemic, to guarantee the mobility of the population and fulfil with all health measures, which “has allowed us to recover, currently, 80% of the demand that we had before of the Covid-19, our figures are over other national operators. A team that has also positioned the Metrotenerife brand in the international market of the guided transport sector, working on four continents with various projects from countries such as Ecuador, Colombia, Senegal, Albania, Peru, Israel, among others”.
Arriaga stressed that the historical accumulated of 185,655,000 passengers transported during these years is a clear sign that our tram is an essential and positive transport in the life of the people of Tenerife. Besides, it has also been developed in line with international sustainability aspects, as recently recognized the UN, with the second place in the ‘Building Back Better’ awards.
On the other hand, the island director of Mobility, José Alberto León, said that the valuation of the tram service has always been remarkable, in fact, “in the last demand study (2020) the system obtained a score of more than 8 points of 10, being punctuality, accessibility, environment and comfort the aspects best valued by users”.
Accessibility, the hallmark of the Tenerife Tram
Since the drafting phase of the project, the Tenerife Tram was designed to be a transport system for the whole of the citizenry. In 2011 it became the first tram in Spain to obtain the AENOR certification of Universal Accessibility (UNE 170001-2:2007). Nowaday, Metrotenerife continues to work with the disability groups of the island (Sinpromi, ONCE, Queremos Movernos, Fasican, Funcasor, Apanate, CoordiCanarias, Fundación En Pié, etc.) to identify and implement the necessary measures to maintain and improve the accessibility system standards.
Socially Responsible Company
The service commitment of Metrotenerife goes far beyond its obligations as a transport operator. It is a Socially Responsible Company, and in coordination with the Island Government, the company has always contributed and collaborated in the well-being of the society. In that sense, it has supported and given visibility to the projects and initiatives of groups and associations such as Queremos Movernos, Ámate, Atletas Sin Fronteras, Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, among many others.
Through its Corporate Social Responsibility Plan, it has collaborated in solidarity and inclusive actions. For example, hundreds of children have participated in projects as ‘Leemos en el Tranvía’ or in the stories contest ‘El Camino de Don Tapón’. Besides the ICI Taco Summer School of the University of La Laguna has always had the support of Metrotenerife. Also Tenerife Tram has become stage and set for numerous advertisements, reports and local, national or international film productions as ‘Jason Bourne’ (2016), film that is part of the Bourne saga.