Madrid city buses

A Madrid city bus

Madrid has a good network of buses which extends its services from city limits to long distances. It also provides the night services.

Madrid buses are air-conditioned in the summer. Although buses tend to take longer to reach their destination than the Metro, they have some advantages: they cover a larger area of the city and you get to see where you’re going. The buses have large windows and, unlike with the Metro, you can scout neighborhoods for shops and other items of interest as you travel about town.

Most bus stops have detailed city maps posted on a side panel or wall and include the various bus routes. In terms of accessibility, most urban buses nowadays have a special ramp for elderly and disabled people.

You can purchase ten journey “Metrobus” tickets valid for both buses and the Metro subway; these can be shared by more than one person per journey. Metrobus tickets can be bought in any metro station either at the machines or at the ticket office.

There are also special tourist passes for 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 and 7 days which you can also buy at the metro stations or tourist offices. The buses run from 6:00 am to 23.30 pm, after which you will have to rely on night-buses called ‘buhos’ (“owl” in Spanish). There are over 20 ‘buhos’ bus lines. All start at Plaza de Cibeles. There is also a ‘Metrobuho’ service at weekends and Fridays; these are bus lines that follow the subway metro lines paths and have the same frequency as the ‘buhos’.

Suburban buses connect the city with 176 municipalities in its surroundings. There are hundreds of lines run by Madrid City Transport Consortium which cover all the suburban area.

The biggest bus station where most companies depart from is the ‘Estacion sur de autobuses’ (South Bus Station), but there are some companies which have their own terminal and there are also departures from some of Madrid’s transport hubs called ‘intercambiadores’.

>>>Guide to Getting Around Madrid

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