New Torrevieja Bus Station Still A Few Years Away

[Carl]

https://www.informacion.es/vega-baja/20 ... 67169.html

Google translate, minus video and images:

The project for a new bus station in Torrevieja will have to wait until at least 2028.

The urban planning process for the plot for a future concession is stalled while the city will continue to depend on the deteriorated private terminal on Avenida de las Habaneras.

The new municipal bus station in Torrevieja will have to wait. The City Council has begun the planning process to reserve and organize the land in Enclave 13 where it intends to build it through a future private concession, but the project is still in a preliminary phase that makes its execution during the current term unfeasible. It will not be a real project until at least 2028, according to sources close to the Popular Party's governing team who confirmed this to INFORMACIÓN.

In December 2024, the City Council announced the preliminary processing of a specific modification to the General Plan to regulate a plot of almost 40,000 square meters located between the CV-905, Rosa Mazón Avenue and Juan Valera Street, in the area known as Enclave 13. However, the urban planning review of the plot, which is mostly municipal but includes privately owned land, has not progressed as quickly as expected. Consequently, it has not been possible to finalize the tender process to award a concession to finance the construction of the station with a commercial space.

Avanza workshops and garages

On these lands, although those that are already publicly owned, the urban transport company Avanza should begin working to comply with the specifications of its new service and build the garages and workshops, to move those facilities currently located on Delfina Viudes Avenue, in front of the residential area of ​​Pueblo Bravo .

The municipal idea was - and is - that on that plot the station should share space with urban transport facilities, a new Civil Protection headquarters, parking lots and other facilities, also of a private nature.

A project still only on paper

The City Council is in the preliminary phase of modifying the urban plan to determine land use distribution, development needs, and access routes through a traffic study. These procedures leave insufficient time to construct the terminal before the current municipal term ends. A significant portion of the 40,000 square meters is municipally owned through expropriation. The municipality finalized its acquisition through expropriation in 2012 after a lengthy legal process and an outlay of 5.2 million euros.

While the long-awaited initiative to build a proper, municipally owned bus terminal — an idea that has been discussed for fifteen years — is still underway, thousands of passengers continue to use the old private terminal on Avenida de las Habaneras daily. These facilities, dating from the late 1980s, suffer from significant deficiencies in maintenance and services, and do not present the best image of Torrevieja to visitors.

Access

This Tuesday, there was a long queue and wait for taxis at the main entrance. The main entrance remains completely obstructed by a terrace that blocks access and violates safety regulations in case of emergency, with the City Council taking no action despite the fact that the land is not public property. Thousands of passengers a day must navigate around the tables and chairs to enter and exit the premises, which are greeted by a sign from the former French Riviera. There is also a lot of activity and queues on the platforms. The property owner allows one of them to be used as a parking space for a private, high-end vehicle.

The constant flow of hundreds of users coexists with general neglect and minimal cleaning of restrooms and offices. The owning company warns that it is a private, video-monitored facility and has not changed the Costa Azul signage even though the company ceased operations almost a decade ago.

An eighties-era station for thousands of travelers

Until that project materializes, Torrevieja will continue to rely on the bus terminal on Avenida de las Habaneras. Built in the late 1980s, it is privately owned and serves as one of the main entry and exit points for travelers in a city whose population swells considerably during the summer. Essential services for the mobility of residents and tourists depart from its platforms, including the direct connection to Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, lines to other municipalities in the Vega Baja region, and long-distance services to Madrid, Castile, La Rioja, Navarre, Cantabria, and the Basque Country.

The terminal has private security, a cafeteria, several shops, and a taxi rank, which is one of the main ones in Torrevieja, but its overall condition still falls short of what one would expect given the volume of passengers it handles. The company Avanza, which owns the terminal, has also recently relocated the urban transport office required by the contract terms, which has added more users to the facility.

Buses currently enter and exit the bus terminal in the heart of the town, in a busy area between Avenida de las Habaneras and Calle Antonio Machado. One of the city council's arguments for relocating the station to Enclave 13 is precisely to remove this traffic from the city center and place the terminal next to one of the main road access points to Torrevieja.

The future of the old terminal is also pending.

The relocation is also linked to another municipal project that has not yet materialized. The City Council intends to acquire the 3,800 square meters occupied by the current station in order to demolish the facilities and convert the land into a green area connected to the surroundings of the San Esteban neighborhood.

The process began during the previous administration through an amendment to the General Plan, but it has not progressed as expected. The land has been valued at over €4.5 million and remains privately owned. The future of both plots is thus intertwined. The City Council plans to build a municipal station on land that is already publicly owned, but it still needs to amend the urban plan, develop the area, and prepare and award the concession that will allow its construction. While this process unfolds, the city continues to rely on a nearly four-decade-old private station as its only terminal, and its replacement remains pending.

[Lincoln45]

So when they do eventually get around to constructing it, they will have to re-organize all the bus routes again

[Bee]

It really is a big blot on the town to have such a 3rd World Bus Station despite all the other developments that have taken place.

Bee

[Brandyboy]

'During busy periods, passengers face crowded platforms and must often ask drivers where their buses depart because of insufficient signage. Access through the main entrance is also restricted by tables and chairs belonging to the station café, creating accessibility difficulties and raising questions about emergency evacuation.

Outdated signs belonging to former operator Costa Azul remain displayed almost a decade after it ceased running services'

Says it all really.