Bilbao - Transport

Transport

The Bilbao Airport serves the city and it is the busiest terminal in the Basque Country and in the entire Northern coast, with 3,9 million passengers in 2010. It is located 12 km (7.46 mi) north from the city, between the municipalities of Loiu and Sondika. 15 airlines operate in the terminal, including Iberia, Lufthansa, and TAP Portugal. Top destinations include London, Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid, Paris, Malaga, and Amsterdam. It opened to the public in September 1948, with a regular flight to Madrid. On 19 November 2000, a new terminal building was opened, designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava. In February 2009, a project was approved to expand the current building to duplicate its capacity. Although expected to be completed by 2014, the current financial crisis and the decrease of passenger traffic delayed it to at least 2019.

The city has 13 bridges connecting both sides of the river, it is connected to the European road network by the AP-8 toll motorway and to the north of Spain by the A-8 motorway and to the rest of Spain by the AP-68 toll motorway.

The underground network (Metro Bilbao), inaugurated in 11 November 1995, is used by more than 85 million passengers every year. It has 2 lines that connect both banks of the Bilbao Metropolitan Area. There is a project under way to build a third line.

The city has 43 Bilbobus bus lines, 28 for normal buses, seven "micro-buses" for zones of the city that a normal bus cannot access, and eight night lines. The inner-city bus network has recently won a prize for its efficiency and quality of service. In addition, there are more than 100 BizkaiBus bus lines, connecting Bilbao with almost every point in Biscay and part of Alava. The city's main bus station is called Termibus and is located near the San Mamés stadium.

There are 7 commuter rail lines operated by three different companies:

Renfe (Spanish railway network) operates 3 Cercanías lines in metropolitan Bilbao:

• C1, Bilbao-Abando–Santurtzi
• C2, Abando-Muskiz
• C3, Abando-Orduña

FEVE (Spanish Narrow Gauge Railways) operates one line:

• Abando (Concordia)-Balmaseda.

EuskoTren (Basque railway network), operates three lines:

• Deusto–Lezama
• Atxuri–Ermua
• Atxuri-Bermeo.

In 2002, the new tramway, EuskoTran, was inaugurated. It has one line connecting Atxuri with Basurto. Plans are afoot to greatly expand the network over the coming decade.

A Brittany Ferries ferry service links Santurtzi, near Bilbao, to Portsmouth (UK). MV Cap Finistère ferry departs from the port of Bilbao, 15 km (9 mi) north west of the city centre. A service operated by Acciona Trasmediterranea served the same route from May 16, 2006 until April 2007. P&O Ferries operated this route until its withdrawal on 28 September 2010 with a ship called the Pride of Bilbao.