Transportation
The city is connected by motorway with the main cities in central and northern Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao, all of which are located about 300 kilometres (200 miles) from Zaragoza.
Zaragoza Airport is a small commercial airport. It also is the home of the Spanish Air Force 15th Group, as well as was used by NASA as a contingency landing site for the Space Shuttle in the case of a Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL).
Zaragoza is also connected to the Spanish High Speed railway (Renfe's AVE), by the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line. Madrid is reachable in 1 hour 15 minutes, and Barcelona in approximately 1 hour 30 minutes. The central station is "Intermodal Zaragoza Delicias Station", which serves both railway lines and coaches. In addition to long distance railway lines and the high speed train, Zaragoza has a network of commuter trains (Renfe's cercanías).
The city has a network of buses which is controlled by TUZSA (Urban Transport Company of Zaragoza). The network consists of 31 regular lines (two of them circle lines), two scheduled routes, six shuttle buses (one free), and seven night buses operating on Fridays and Saturdays.
There is also an interurban bus network operated by CTAZ (Transport Consortium Zaragoza Area) with 17 regular lines.
The first line of the Zaragoza tram (Valdespartera-Parque Goya) is fully operational along the first phase from Valdespartera to Plaza Paraíso. Construction of the second phase (Plaza Paraíso-Parque Goya) began on 19th July 2011 and the works are scheduled to be finished in 18 months, followed by a 3-month trial period.
Around the city, cycle lanes facilitate easy two-wheeled travel around the city and cyclists can thus avoid conflict with pedestrians and the dangers of motor vehicles, as well as the obvious advantages of improving fitness and helping to reduce pollution. Furthermore, the city council has a public bicycle hire scheme. In return for a small annual charge, you can collect a bicycle from one hire point in the street and ride to another part of the city and leave the bike at a different hire point.
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