I travelled to Madrid along with my family, my grandma (74) & my younger sister, who is handicapped. Even though she could walk for short distances, she couldn't stay stood for much time, so she spent most of the time siting in her wheelchair. We decided to travel through the city by using the metro. I can only say that it was an excellent experience. The system is currently adapting many metro stations to become universally accesible and they have a plan to convert all of their stations in the near future, even the oldest ones. They have a map that describes which stations were accesible and had elevators. So we defined our routes (and even where to stay) based on that map. Every time a train arrived, and we waited in front of the adapted wagon to enter (the 1rst one), the driver would stand up, leave his cabin, approach to us and ask if everything was okey and in which station we would leave. This was so meaningful for us. We had an amazing experience in Madrid. My sister could stay seated in most of the sidewalks, as they were completely accesible, and also in each time we were in the metro system. A trip we'll definitely always remember!
We share some common history, sort of. My grandmother went with her sister and 3 nieces in 1972 and described the safety of Franco´s Spain. Same glowing attention to details. I , having traveled by train, road and plane within Spain about 12 times and 43 cities, towns and villages to die for, I can say one thing about the Iberians, they know how to build long lasting everything. Saludos de NYC, USSA.
As a londoner, the Madrid metro is a literal dream. I get line 10 every morning during commuter hours and it's pretty busy but trains literally run every 1-2 minutes so by the time I've walked to my end of the platform there's usually a train already pulling in, it's actually fantastic
You're absolutely right about that. It makes me wonder why Spain is so often overlooked considering both how much transit is being constructed, how high quality Spanish transit projects typically are, and how successful Spain tends to be at controlling the cost of transit construction compared to pretty much every other country else in the industrialized world (along with South Korea, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and a few other countries in East Asia). In regards to public transportation, Spain has a whole lot to be proud of, including but not limited to the 2nd largest high-speed rail network in the world (behind only the much much larger country of China) and fantastic, truly modern, efficient, high-tech metro, light metro, and tram systems in many Spanish cities.
@@matthewmcree1992 the high-speed rail network (just like china) has a few lines that are really unnecessary. Conventional rail lines are plenty good for most travel, so excluding madrid-coruña, barcelona, valencia and sevilla there really isn't a need for more. Those pretty much cover the whole of spain ( maybe mad-bilbao too)
It is also very noticable that the Madrid's metro has phone and wifi coverage all over it, despite basically all of it being underground. Such a big difference when I moved to London, where the connectivity is just horrible.
As a Spaniards that has traveled abroad, one of the pros that I appreciate the most about Madrid's metro is its quietness (of the ride) and the cleanliness of the stations.
I think the best feature is the fact that there is only one train running on each platform so you don’t have to figure out if you are boarding the wrong train. So simple! And its color coded!
I visited Madrid just a few weeks ago and was really impressed by the Metro system, it's well designed, easy to navigate as a tourist, covers everywhere we wanted to go, interchanges were easy, trains were in good and of course many busy stations featured the Spanish Solution! Definitely one of the best I've seen in Europe.
Having lived in Madrid for 2 years and visited many other European cities thereafter, I can (hopefully objectively) say that Madrid definitely has the best metro system in Europe, especially in terms of cleanliness and well lit-ness. One thing that immediately makes me dislike a system is when its stations are dark and dingy. The white walls and bright lights of the Madrid Metro give a modern feel to it while at the same time making it feel safer for everybody. Some of my girl friends have said that it is because of this reason that they don’t feel scared to ride the metro, even late at night.
I absolutely agree although the lack of 24 hour service even on weekends is a little disappointing especially considering how lively Madrid is late at night, even on weekdays but definitely on the weekend.
Dimly lit station platforms and train interiors make the interiors welcoming and easier on the eyes. Modernisation has resulted in very harsh lighting and crap train designs
true, it is very clean, coparable to asian metros. However, trains running only every 20 minutes off peak is a disaster. In August it is even worse when drivers go on vacation (approved by unions)
I've been to Madrid several times, and I can say that it's a great city above and below ground. The Metro is definitely one of the best features of the city.
I lived in Madrid for half a year (for an internship) back in 2015 and this sums it up pretty well. Normally I don't like being without a car but during my stay in Madrid I not only didn't miss it for a single second but I was actually glad I left my car at home. It would've been way more hassle than it was worth and I doubt it would've been any faster to get to and from work or even the shops. The transit system there fucking rules, trains were always on time. All of the ones I rode had A/C. fast, comfy, pretty cheap too. What's not to love? The flat I rented was a 5 minute walk from puerta del sol with all its shops/restaurants and a sizable transit hub. From leaving the flat to entering the office was about a 25-30 minute journey. Nice weather, beautiful city, awesome food, super close to literally everything. It's not an understatement to say that I absolute loved my time there. My co-student (since you had to go in groups of at least 2) actually loved it so much that he decided to stay. Met a girl there and recently got married, all because we took the gamble of going international on our internship. Funny how life can go huh.
Sounds awesome. I'm also interested in doing an internship in Madrid. May I ask, did you get paid for your internship? As I've read that most internships in Spain don't pay
@@cocazade7703Unfortunately not, my parents helped cover my expenses while there and I used some of my own savings as well. They did pay for our public transit passes though so there's that. It was an amazing experience that I would do again in a heartbeat but unfortunately you gotta make sure you've got the means to cover a couple months rent + expenses like food.
I lived there for six months on the Erasmus programme, and I can agree with everything you said. If I hadn’t had to return home for my final year of college, I’d still be there.
My favorite feature of the metro system is, by far, how easy it is to get to the platforms. Not only do all metro entrances indicate which lines you can access through them, but also the hallways have lines drawn on their walls that indicate which metro line they go to. So, for example, say you want to take line five (light green), you'd enter the station and follow written indications, but also, there would be light green lines on the walls that you can follow to your platform, which is super useful for those times indications are not clear, and for those who don't speak Spanish
Thanks for summing it all up. I’ve been to Montreal, NY, Philadelphia, SF, and London. My wife has been to Italy and France. And the best Metro we ever experienced was in Madrid. Only DC’s metro comes close, but not nearly enough
Spain is such a great country if you love trains to the point where it should be associated with its trains in the way people automatically think trains when they think Japan.
Spain has treated its trains like garbage lately, dismantling many lines and thus isolating huge chunks of territory which depended on the train for communication, such as the Northwestern mining regions; and all of that for the sake of privatising railway transportation, which should never be permitted, given it was the state the only entity capable of building and maintaining the railways, which are a public service and should never be business-oriented.
LOL!! Spain and Japan, as a spaniard just the idea of comparing the two countries makes me wheeze. Spain is only train-friendly when it comes to high speed. We have an excessively large and expensive public HS network where the public railways company (Renfe) is being forced to leave a chunk of the benefits to private operators from abroad (Ouigo from France and Iryo from Italy), which is ludicrous to say the least. And everything else is a big mess. The last night trains were removed during the pandemic and it's been officially confirmed now that they aren't coming back. Commuter and regional public railways are falling into a catastrophic state: old and broken trains, line closures, reduced frequencies, growing insecurity, and so on. And the rail freight market has been shrinking for many years now. Japan?? Japan is LIGHT YEARS ahead of us.
@@diegomatamoros3940 madrid to burgos literally the less useful line, jesus christ honestly, why in this country every single longer distance line needs to be run with trains at 300kmph???
What I understood is that the soil in Madrid is perfect for tunneling: no weak mud as here in the Netherlands, uncuttable granite or an unstable pile of rocks, but a nice stable kind of rock which tunnelboring machines comfortably breeze through. Add to that the fact that Spain is European champion and world elite in building mixed and dense neighborhoods, and you have the perfect background for a superb metro system.
Madrid has good soil for excavating metro tunnels, but only Madrid. Line 7b was finished in a hurry to get it all done by 2007 and to make the current political party governing the region look better. It ran under the streets of San Fernando del Henares, and the soil there was a lot softer, due to the town being next to the Henares river. The tunnels weren’t built right and underwater streams started to flow towards the tunnels. This made the soil unstable or something and houses started to get damaged, and some damages caused by these streams can’t be fixed, meaning that some people had to evacuate their homes because of the metro. The line has been closed over ten times in its short history, but little to no progress has been made. This makes the line by far the worst line of all Edit: it’s the Jarama river, but for some reason the town is called San Fernando del Henares
Even many of the Madrid suburbs feature relatively high density. It means the metro works outside the city center as well, without the need for branching!
except some points of line 7 where the soil is bad and numerous apartments had to be abandoned because cracks in houses. Also, the soil is very wet in line 12 and it went under refurbishment multiple times until now to reinforce multiple points and foundations
@@willingshelf El henares si que pasa por San Fernando, pero no por la ciudad (al menos por ahora no hay nada construido allí), si no entre la parte entre San Fernando y mejorada en medio de la nada... De hecho el río henares desemboca en el río Jarama en San Fernando
You mentioned the major train stations, but Madrid has abundant well-placed intermodal hubs, such as Avenida de América, Méndez Álvaro, Moncloa, Plaza de Castilla & Plaza Elíptica and these are well-served by the Metro. In fact, they are great passenger feeders to the metro! The overall connectivity with Cercanias is also great, but I think you will address that in the future...
My favourite feature of the Madrid metro is the Chamberí Station. It is one of the first stations built in 1919 but when it was decided somtime i think in the 60s or 70s to expand the length of the first line stations Chamberí was closed due to the station, if expanded would have been to close to another station. Later it was made a station-museum where you can enter and see the station exactly how it was when it closed with even old ads from the 20s.
Well, I can tell you from personal experience that it's damn good. I've ridden the transit systems in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia and they all seem to be really good. I recall being impressed by the walk-through trains and the automated signs inside of them--it's a comfortable ride experience and it's really clear where you are and where you are going.
@@RMTransit I was there during a historic heat wave and it was pretty hot inside some of the stations. That was when I learned the charming fact that Spanish ladies still accessorize with fans to the present day.
@@MattMcIrvin I've known of many tourists in Spain who thought those fans were sold as souvenirs or who thought that the people using them were on costumes. Simply, in a hot and dry climate they are very effective.
Madrid has seen recent improvements to the cellphone connectivity underground. This is hugely important for the experience during a ride... that way I can listen to a podcast and tune out.
I didn't realize just how well Madrid did this until I went to London last month and had no cell service on any below-ground tube line. I've never had a single connection issue in Madrid!
@@nathanthompson6676 Remembered that Tube commuters voted against having cell service below ground so they won't be disturbed by others talking on the phone
I took madrid metro for the first time on my own at ten years old and never stopped since. Having travelled to many european cities I can confirm it is the best one indeed, for its efficiency, safety and cleanliness. Great video.
While the Metro de Madrid is definitely great, what caught me a bit off-guard was Principe Pio. Imo it has a funky layout with one track of suburban rail running through the excavated station hall above the Metro lines. Also, it took me a while to realize that the bus terminal is entirely underground. I was really impressed by the layout which separates arrival and departure areas and allows buses to drive directly onto the the A-5 without stopping at any traffic lights.
Having lived in Madrid as a kid, I remember the Estación Sur de Autobuses (in Méndez Alvaro IIRC, on the all-important Circular line 6) as also having its own tunnels towards the ring roads and highways. And with well over 60 platforms it had the look and feel of an airport to me.
Great video as always! One thing I'd like to point out, is Madrid's public transport motto, which is: nos mueve Madrid= Madrid moves us. So simple, but yet so meaningful. I had the opportunity to be an Erasmus student in Granada for one year and to visit Madrid and other amazing places in Spain. What can I say, they know what they are doing from many points of view! Cheers! Oohh, excusame me, SALUD!
One funny thing of MetroMadrid is that Metro trains drive on the left while the rest of spanish trains drive on the right. This is because originally in Madrid we used to drive on the Left, and MetroMadrid was established before the country switched to the right
“The rest of Spanish trains [run] on the right” - that’s not entirely true. While the majority of Spain’s rail system does (including all newly-built ones), there are some oddballs here and there which still have left-hand running. In fact, take a trip one day on Cercanías Madrid’s line C-8 or C-10 going northwest, and you’ll notice that before arriving at Pinar de las Rozas station, there is a series of flyovers that shift the trains from running on the right to running on the left.
Ooo, I've been waiting for this one! Madrid has such an amazing, big system that few seem to be aware of. Line 10 has such an interesting history of being rebuilt several times, and I think it's cool that a few lines had platform lengths extended at various times. Spain seems to do really well at transit in general and coming up with good solutions. I wish North America could do that. I look forward to your video on the suburban system of Madrid. That thing is massive.
I lived in Madrid for a year and the top underrated feature of the Metro is the wayfinding system. It really is genius in how intuitive it is, even in tight convoluted corridors of some of the older stations. I also kinda like that Madrid found a station layout that works for them and they're using it extensively in new extensions, but also major refurbishments. It may take away some of the uniqueness, but it makes the system intuitive and pleasant to use.
Not sure if its a legend but as far as i know the wayfind system is so simple and colored because when the first metro lines were created there was a portion of the population that was illiterate so following colors and counting stops was a very simple rule to follow.
@@javieru53 I'd say it's very likely, but it still works. London Underground had a similar feature, with color-coded wall tiles. Madrid in particular is very consistent with the hallway markings - navy blue for Metro, red for Cercanías, smaller colored stripe underneath to indicate the line.
Correction 6:31 - part of the Suburbano's route is now a part of line 5, instead of as shown. If you like this video don't forget to like, share and subscribe!
There are even more interesting things to mention about -The platforms at Sol in Line 1 aren't parallel to each other being the first -if you consider the entirety of The Sol station with both Metro and Cercanias as a whole you are in the presence of the largest Man made cavern - most Stations have artistic representation of the place they are located and even some are regarded as Museums thanks to the diferent archeological discoveries made along the lines - there used to be a TV channel exclusive to the metro, it was mostly news and special reports made by the Metro company about their stations and their surroundings - there are various Ghost Stations, the most famous being chamberi and the others are located in Line 12 Waiting to be open - not everything made in 07 was good as an example the Lines 12, 8 and 7B are poorly designed and received way to much water damage and most of Line 7 gets closed at least once a year during months - The Chamartin station has been ready to provide service to Three Lines since 2007 with two Empty platforms that are supposed to be part of Line 11 -I recommend you to check the Chamartin nuevo Norte project
I've lived in Madrid for 5 years and I can attest that its public transport is awesome. I found the Metro to be the most useful system for me, but the bus system and the commuter train (which is used a lot within the city) are also excellent.
I've been waiting for this video since I subscribed to your channel and I really enjoyed it! Madrid's metro system is incredibly cool, specially for young people as we only pay 20€/month for unlimited usage, so we can avoid the inconvenience of paying and having a car in a large city
Hola! Soy de Madrid!!! Gracias por hacer este vídeo y compartirlo! Tenemos un gran Transporte público en Madrid y cada día estamos mejorándolo y modernizando aún más. Siempre tenemos el metro en obras, pero merece la pena, nos hemos acostumbrado a ello jajaja! en pocos años se han modernizado las estaciones, los andenes, los vagones, etc Aunque también hay puntos negativos como que no haya personal más que en unas pocas estaciones (mucha gente necesita ayuda a veces), los robos, las obras interminables, la espera entre un metro y otro, las huelgas... Quizás estos inconvenientes son más problemáticos para quienes lo utilizamos a diario. Pero en general, creo que lo positivo pesa más. Seguiremos mejorando ^^
¡Hola! Soy de EE.UU, y gracias por explicarse sobre su sistema de transporte pública. Ahora tengo ganas de ir a Madrid en el futuro, jaja. ¡Felicitaciones!
@@verybarebones casi nada, más los esperados cortes veraniegoa de las líneas jajaja Espero que lo solucionen, porque el amianto es serio y grave, es lo que pasa con cosas tan antiguas, te lo encuentras en las casas, imagínate aquí
@@soccerruben1 Hombre, ven a vernos por más cosas jajaja Seguro que cuando vengas verás más cosas "futuristas" que el metro está instalando poco a poco en todas las estaciones
Talking about Spanish Metro Lines you should Check Bilbao's Metro, Although relatively small with only 3 lines, It is a very interesting one because of its architecture.
You forgot to mention the Madrid Metro map,it is a master piece itself. Madrid metro layout,signals,map and ticket machines made it the most pleasant metro to use I know even if you are new to the city. It is dead simple to use,very well integrated web site and tools for tourism.I never felt amazed by any other major metro system in EU being from Madrid.
Every second of this video had me impressed about how Spain do their public infrastracture well. All of the stations and trains look well maintained and the whole system is extensive and uniform.
You mentioned in the video that a particularity of Metro de Madrid is that all lines run using overhead catenary, mostly rigid catenary. That is because they invested quite a lot of money in R&D and they hold several patents on specific designs and types of rigid catenary.
Fun fact: Due to the length increase in Line 1, the Chamberí station has closed because extending its platforms result in a shorter distance between the it and the next station and Sol station had to skew their tracks because it was built under historic buildings.
And is now a free museum, restored to look as it did in the 60s. Talking of short distances between stations, Atocha and Atocha Renfe are so close you can see the platforms from each other.
Madrid public transport is so good and cheap. As a teenager without a car, I can just pay 10 euros a month for a public transport card that allows me to take as many trains and buses as I want (in the region of madrid). This is so useful because this allows me to litterally go anywhere
Natives from Madrid don't know how much of a good system they have until they leave and try other systems, as much as I like to trash talk the Metro as an almost daily user, it truly is a wonder and absolutely reliable. What I dislike are some minor details like some stations can be a bit of a maze or some platforms feel a bit too narrow at some places for comfort (line 6 on Plaza Elíptica has a lot of users and the width is comparable to early 20th century metro stations)
@@fbrtnrsthf I have a love-hate relationship with line 10 because of that, it does go (or at least feel) fast at many places within the city and the stations are usually very fine and not excessively deep or apart from the entrance (ehem line 9)
What i love about the madrid metro is how stations are decorated based on a theme of the place of the city they are in , like retiro is a famous park and the metro is decorated as a park, plaza de españa has the walls decorated with the spanish flag as its called plaza of spain, chueca is the gay neighbourhood of madrid and is decorated with the gay flag on its walls, the planetarium has planets hanging from the ceiling etc and it gives a vibe and life to the system
So proud to see this kind of international recognition of our city! I have always lived in Madrid and used the metro many times, it is the most convenient transport specially when going down town. After the big amount of extensions opened in 2007 there was a long pause in new construction projects, though they did a lot of renovation on existing lines. The new extension of line 11 will be really interesting.
I have been to Madrid in 2014 and 2019, rode the system many times. Great network they have. If only we had hired Madrid engineers and contractors for the Toronto Crosstown line it would have been done in 5 years not the 12 we are suffering through.
As a spaniard who moved to Madrid in 2020, using the metro was the easiest part of moving there. It's a real pity we don't get the same transit options on the rest of the country, mainly in unpopulated areas due to the lack of industrialisation. Train service in the countryside is being limited and decreased each year, while high-speed networks are growing. It's cool seeing transit evolve in the bigger cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Sevilla, Valencia, but regions like León, Soria, Burgos, Huelva, Cáceres or Teruel are suffering serious needs for transit reforms
Hardly anyone lives in Teruel or Huelva, there is nearly no comparison. Investment is made in populated areas where the high costs can be justified with future earnings. That's why Madrid's public transport will always be the best in Spain.
You can´t compare large cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, to others like Leon, Burgos, or Gijón where I live. There is no real need of a metro here, even if it has been announced and half built. So much public money spent here for such a nonsense. People here are so angry about this... Cheers.
Otro problema que plantea la construcción del metro o más bien nuestra tierra es que en cuanto haces un agujero encontramos restos arqueológicos. Casi todas nuestras ciudades están ubicadas sobre ciudades romanas o medievales, y obviamente no es una opción reventar los restos arqueológicos y los costes se irían por las nubes si se musealizara todo como por ejemplo en ópera. Pero estoy de acuerdo, hay muchas ciudades que necesitan una buena inversión en transporte público, y de los pueblos ya ni hablamos... Aquí en CLM han puesto ahora transporte a demanda para los pueblos y de momento parece una buena solución sabiendo que somos una de las zonas más despobladas de España!
I've been looking forward to this video, so thanks for covering Madrid. It does have an amazing public transit system. It helps that the city is densely populated and almost exclusively urban rather than suburban. Couple of comments: * The AVE tunnel was bored 11 years ago, but still isn't in service * Line 5's connection at Embajadores is actually Acacias, which is like the Bank/Monument in London. It takes several minutes to walk between them, but you can do it all underground.
I don't think anyone does. :) They claim "this year", but it's been coming for ages. Spanish infrastructure is defined by delays. I don't know what I'd do it something was delivered on time. I think they're just overly optimistic. But it's great when it does get finished.
@@RMTransit they just don't have any cross-city service yet, mainly because a couple of reasons: 1) The underground passing station at Atocha is yet to be built (Atocha current long distance station is a terminal station), so trains going through the tunnel can only call at Chamartín. 2) Renfe has a huge lack of trains to serve more routes. So basically they don't have the capacity for serving more lines crossing Madrid and they prefer to keep consistency of which destinations are served from which station. This situation will change probably this year as the Atocha terminal station is near its capacity limit and Ouigo and Iryo have requested to use some capacity from Madrid to Valencia, so they will have to start using the Chamartín station for going to Valencia and therefore the tunnel will start commercial services. Anyway the tunnel is already in use just for moving trains from one part of the network to another (and it's the only standard gauge link between both sections of the network, so it's still kind of strategic).
@@jandron94 no, that's not possible as both Seville and Barcelona trains enter to Madrid through the south of the city to Atocha, so for such a service calling in both stations to exist, it would have to be something like "Barcelona-Atocha-Chamartin-(Reverse)-Atocha-Seville". BUT nowadays there are direct Barcelona-Seville AVE services not calling at Madrid so making those direct services to stop at Madrid wouldn't make much commercial sense because the end to end travel time wouldn't be as competitive. Maybe in the far future if a new route from the Barcelona route to Chamartin vía the airport is created (this isn't even planned) that could be made viable.
Increíble . Nice vídeo as always thanks you for lisening the sugestion . My favorite thing about Metro de Madrid is the 6000 series and Príncipe Pío interchange. I Hope you do more spanish railways in the future!
Not just the metro, but also the city amazed me so much. Its very beautiful, clean and Chic. Gran Via is amazing and Spanish People are the best ❤. I was not expecting that much of Spain and it was a big Surprise. Madrid > Barcelona by the way
You should make a video about the Metro System in Spain. It has 9 metro systems in a country of 47 million inhabitants. It is the 5th country in the world with the most cities with a Metro system, after Germany, USA, China and Japan. There are 9 cities in the country that have a Metro System
You should totally talk about this because there are many metros in Spain and also talk about cercanias not only in Madrid but in other cities like Sevilla
The circular line 12 only connects once to the rest of the metro network (for now) but it crosses the Cercanias suburban rail in 6 stations for lines C-3, C-4 and C-5
@@DavidPashley An extension to the South to connect to line 12 was in the cards at some point. It will not be built under the current project but it might come back in the future as a branch. Line 3 is being extended to line 12 on the eastern side and might be enough for the near future (in combination with the Cercanias links)
@@willingshelf that doesn't seem like it would give much benefit over line 12 compared to something like extending it to Fuenlabrada, cutting metro sur in half. I guess it would help people in Alcorcón
Si glad to see this. I have lived in Boston, New York, Chicago and Mexico City and the metro system I’ve liked the most and found most useful is Madrids by far
One on the things not mentioned and that I find makes Madrid metro shine: Everything is dessigned to help the blind/visually impaired people. The bright colours in many stations, the sharp contrast in the colours of the trains, mind the floors! always helping you to be guided, all the panel are writen in Brailey... and it is the Metro in the wold most friendly for people in wheelchairs (and improving). I have lived in several European cities. Madrid public transport system (metro included) is the best in Europe. When I travel I am always amazed of how many of the user-friendly meassures taken in Madrid are not copied in other main European cities. They do make life easier...
Spain has really high profile representation for blind people. When I lived in Madrid, I would see the ONCE (blind organisation) lottery sellers everywhere. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that they’re considered in the design of the metro.
I spent one day in Madrid and was shocked by how great the metro is. It's much nicer than Barcelona's, though Barcelona has better frequency in my experience
Fiiinally. You took your time getting to this one, but you did it really well. I visited Madrid on a university art trip back in 2000 and even back then, I was very impressed and surprised by both the city and the Metro system. It is very underrated on the world stage. I have no idea why. Suggestion for the next one: Kiev!
It definitely looks remarkable. I have ridden the Barcelona Metro and there seem to be a few similarities to Madrid’s. I like their use overhead electric pickup. Oddly, I don’t see a lot of the “Spanish Solution” in the pics shown in the video. Is that just reserved for major stations?Changing topics (and I have asked this before :-) ) will you be covering the opening of The Elizabeth Line on the 24th? This is probably the most exciting inauguration in the last few decades.
Well I live in Coventry in the UK. It's an hour by express train to London Euston. The Elizabeth Line is opening tomorrow... and I'll be there! Can't tell you how excited I am because there's been lots of coverage of the line and the design of the new underground stations, which look fantastic! It's also pretty cool because the first stage of the Bank station upgrade opened last week... it's a major expansion of a very busy, crowded interchange, so a great benefit.
I just had a chance to ride the Madrid system. Very clean and bright at the various stations we encountered. Cost per pride is reasonable. The only bummer is that like most of the metro systems, if you have difficulty taking stairs, much of the system is hopeless. At one station there were handicap doors right in front of stairs that took you 2 stories up. Why bother with the automated doors. Anyone needing those doors is unlikely to be able to climb the stairs. My wife can not use this system, or Paris for that matter. So far the only system I have come across that is totally accessible is Vienna. Vienna also has amazingly low weekly rate of around 22 Euro (when we there in 2019). Another item I love about Madrid’s system was the remarkable 4 to 5 minute interval. There was never any waiting of more than 4 minutes when transferring. So for those who can walk stairs, this system is fantastic.
¡Fantastic Video! I´m from Madrid, and a Metro lover too... So complete, and interesting. And i think its one of the best suburban transports of the wordl...
I rode the Madrid metro in 1990 or so, and it was phenomenal. Much like now, everything was in English as well as Spanish, and very clean and organized. (Also, Madrid's phone booths* also put instructions in four languages on giant posters...great city. *A phone booth was a privacy*** enclosure with a very large phone contraption inside. **Privacy was an old concept involving not sharing your conversation with everyone around you...)
Why do some New Yorkers crap on New York like that? It still has one of the best transit systems in the world, and it's the only big city in the US where you don't need a car.
Honestly, the NYC subway has only one strength and that is that it’s coverage of the city is huge. Yeah sure it might be open 24hrs but who actually takes the subway late at night? I certainly wouldn’t. The system is slow, and decrepit and it’s a really shame because it can truly be world class if it got the TLC it deserves
@@DanTheCaptain So it's functional and has great opening hours, but it's not a shiny object. Not everything needs to be a shiny object. It is still an impressive system. And I would take the subway at night, there's a lot of reasons why one would do it, work, travel, partying etc.
@@aristeon5908 Yes it definitely is an impressive system, just a bit rough around the edges. I was just pointing out how it’s not in the best state. Any system that big and that runs 24/7 is worthy of praise. Also like the new train sets that will be introduced soon
@@DanTheCaptain Now we agree. It's a great system, could look better, but it's still very functional and comprehensive. In New York City you don't need a car, and that's thanks to the subway. Personally, my favourite metros are Hong Kong and Berlin, but NYC is still a great world class system.
Hi! As a Madrileña myself I am happy to see our metro system explained here. However, I would like to make a suggestion: have you considered exploring Seoul's metro system? For me it is absolutely impressive, and I am used to enjoy a good metro system such as Madrid's. It would be great to see a video from you covering that metro system, thank you!
10:44 This change of train is necessary because the extensions of these metro lines belong to another "zone". Specifically: "zone b" if you want to enter "zone b" you need a more expensive metro ticket than zone A. You leave the train in zone A on the platform, cross the barrier with your ticket to zone b and you get on the train that goes to zone b.
You should consider doing Bucharest, Romania! In my opinion it is one of the most underrated systems in the world, because it has SO many unique features. You have an almost complete circle line that cant operate as an actual circle, a station with one of the narrowest platforms in Mainland Europe, two smaller suburban satellite lines not reaching the city centre (one of them has a branch as well) and a lot of route sharing between lines. There is also something really odd at the end of a line. Between the actual terminus and the depot there is a single-track tunnel in which they built a single-platform station only used by a few trains per day. And all that on the same system. I think the system has so much strange but cool stuff on it!
I like the way that once you're on the right platform, you'll get the right train. There's no express trains, no lines with branches where you need to get the one that ends in a certain place etc.
As a person who spent a lot of time in the Metro, theres is a lot to say. The nost important i think are the next: Recently Line 3 and Line 11 will be extended. Line 11 will reach Pinar de Chamartin crossing the center of the city, for the odther side, the Line 3 will only reach the station of El Casar, wich is a Line 12 station, giving another access to the rest of the rest of Metro than Puerta del Sur (if we dont have in mind Cercania Renfe).
I just moved to a town nearby Madrid a few months ago, and even though I only visit on weekends, I feel that I've got the mapping of the major lines I travel nailed down quite well. It's so easy to use and a million miles ahead of my American home town in terms of... well, everything (we had a sorry excuse for a bus system and that was it). I'm honestly obsessed with the ease of the metro and the convenience it provides to me as a visitor, even on its busier days.
On average I wait maybe 1 or 2 minutes for a metro car, and six minutes under the worst conditions. So very, very frequent trains is key. Also, the Madrid metro has cell phone connectivity underground virtually everywhere! Which is really nice. It's clean, organized, and reliable.
Excelent video! Since you've already covered Santiago and São Paulo, I'm really looking foward to the next major South American metro system, Buenos Aires!
The tunnel uniting Chamartín and Atocha is extra-officially named as "túnel de la risa" (laughter tunnel) due to its notorious wind's sound reflection (reverberation) and diffraction when the trains cut through the air in their regular trips.
I'd love to see a video on Budapest! The second oldest metro in the world (if I'm not mistaken) and one of the best connected tram networks with an insane amount of lines. Happy to help too seeing I grew up in the city and go back regularly.
Impressed by how neat and tidy it looks trains shiny not grimy ,my nurse is from Madrid she’s tidy too and being of Spanish/Irish decent well proud ,I hope TfL give our system a good deep clean and tidy up too
I commented in the past how interesting I would find a video about Hamburgs transit as a whole, but actually it's possible to only look at the metro: Currently 4 Lines, a fifth being built, another one extended. But there were bigger plans in the past, which can be found on Wikipedia. Only a few of the old plans can be see, but the not-building of the lines leads to one big station without a metro station, and this station is currently relocated to a point where... there is no metro too.
I live in Madrid (because im spanish boi) and I really like our metro, especialy the modern ones! And is a very clean metro, rarely you see something dirty :)
One comment. Saying the L12 goes across "a bunch of towns" is probably very underestimating the capacity. It runs through Alcorcon (160k), Mostoles (205k), Fuenlabrada (195k), Getafe (160k) and Leganes (195k). Those are well developed cities on their own, and also have different university campuses, so people from all over the city to study.
Fun fact: how to tell Madrileños apart? Madrileños call the lines by their actual name, their number, while many foreigners (be it from elsewhere Spain or actual foreigners) by the color. But there are multiple lines with the same color so, when they say “the green line blablabla” I replay “which one? 5, 11 or 12?” I usually love their reaction. Another fun fact: every madrileño will remember the first time they used the Metro unaccompanied. I actually remember taking my younger sister, teaching and reassuring her, and off she went.
For you all to know, most of the extensions opened in the early 2000s featured numerous poor desing decisions such as ridiculously large stations for low traffic areas, numerous zig-zag curves which make the travel times longer to save money during the construction phase by avoiding inclines... But the biggest atrocity is the metro ligero. There are HUGE partes of line ML3 that run through completely empty land but make haundreds of tight turns in the middle of nowhere to avoid nothing which reduce substantially the average speed.
I almost forgot that the last years many, many HUGE structural problems have been discovered in the Metro Este part of Linea 7. The thing is that in order to save in construction costs, the tunnel was made through unstable terrain prone to floodings. In addition, many houses above the tunnels have suffered structural damage, some irreparable, and families hava been displaced from their homes. All thanks to the Partido Popular which was in charge of the Gobierno de la Comunidad de Madrid in that period (and now), known for its flagrant corruption in Madrid and Valencia.
@@1239719 El vídeo trata acerca del Metro de Madrid y como se construyó y no de quién lo construyó, ni de quién gobierna la Comunidad de Madrid, ni si lo hace bien o mal; así que tu barrila sobraba. Pero como veo que insistes con el polítiqueo fuera de lugar: disfruta de lo no votado, porque me parece que los tuyos van a pasarse muchos, muchos, muchos años sin gobernar en Madrid y con un poco de suerte en España...🤣🤣🤣 SOLO QUEDA VOX 🇪🇦💚💚🇪🇦. Mejórate tú de tu sectarismo...Saludos.
I always love your videos, but I must say I was looking forward to the breakdown of the different types of trains and was disappointed when it didn’t come!
Despite the Tranvía de Parla and Metro Ligero seeming to be the same, Tranvía de Parla is operated separately from every other metro system even though the regional transportation consortium internally considers it being ML-4 but not publicly
I would really love a video about the Prague metro. I am from Prague and I have to say it is one of the coolest, most beautiful and breathtaking metro system in Europe. Also I love your videos, continue on please!🎉
I would love to see a video about the public transit train system (subway, S-Bahn, Regional Rail) in Hamburg Germany. There are many projects planned or under way which aim to address the major issues with the current system.
I travelled to Madrid along with my family, my grandma (74) & my younger sister, who is handicapped. Even though she could walk for short distances, she couldn't stay stood for much time, so she spent most of the time siting in her wheelchair.
We decided to travel through the city by using the metro.
I can only say that it was an excellent experience. The system is currently adapting many metro stations to become universally accesible and they have a plan to convert all of their stations in the near future, even the oldest ones.
They have a map that describes which stations were accesible and had elevators. So we defined our routes (and even where to stay) based on that map.
Every time a train arrived, and we waited in front of the adapted wagon to enter (the 1rst one), the driver would stand up, leave his cabin, approach to us and ask if everything was okey and in which station we would leave.
This was so meaningful for us. We had an amazing experience in Madrid. My sister could stay seated in most of the sidewalks, as they were completely accesible, and also in each time we were in the metro system. A trip we'll definitely always remember!
We share some common history, sort of. My grandmother went with her sister and 3 nieces in 1972 and described the safety of Franco´s Spain. Same glowing attention to details. I , having traveled by train, road and plane within Spain about 12 times and 43 cities, towns and villages to die for, I can say one thing about the Iberians, they know how to build long lasting everything. Saludos de NYC, USSA.
As a londoner, the Madrid metro is a literal dream. I get line 10 every morning during commuter hours and it's pretty busy but trains literally run every 1-2 minutes so by the time I've walked to my end of the platform there's usually a train already pulling in, it's actually fantastic
Spain is so often overlooked as a country which does public infrastructure really well
You're absolutely right about that. It makes me wonder why Spain is so often overlooked considering both how much transit is being constructed, how high quality Spanish transit projects typically are, and how successful Spain tends to be at controlling the cost of transit construction compared to pretty much every other country else in the industrialized world (along with South Korea, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and a few other countries in East Asia). In regards to public transportation, Spain has a whole lot to be proud of, including but not limited to the 2nd largest high-speed rail network in the world (behind only the much much larger country of China) and fantastic, truly modern, efficient, high-tech metro, light metro, and tram systems in many Spanish cities.
@@matthewmcree1992 the high-speed rail network (just like china) has a few lines that are really unnecessary. Conventional rail lines are plenty good for most travel, so excluding madrid-coruña, barcelona, valencia and sevilla there really isn't a need for more. Those pretty much cover the whole of spain ( maybe mad-bilbao too)
@@matthewmcree1992 china is $900B deep in rail company debt for context.
@@miguelmarcos1971 mad bcn tmb es util
@@hermenegildoc3933 mad- coruña, Barcelona, Sevilla = mad -coruña ; mad-bcn; mad-sev
It is also very noticable that the Madrid's metro has phone and wifi coverage all over it, despite basically all of it being underground. Such a big difference when I moved to London, where the connectivity is just horrible.
I don’t think we have WiFi access points in any stations, but yes! The whole system has 4G now and many many stations are adopting 5G lately
As a Spaniards that has traveled abroad, one of the pros that I appreciate the most about Madrid's metro is its quietness (of the ride) and the cleanliness of the stations.
I think the best feature is the fact that there is only one train running on each platform so you don’t have to figure out if you are boarding the wrong train. So simple! And its color coded!
I love that there is no branching or interlining too!
I visited Madrid just a few weeks ago and was really impressed by the Metro system, it's well designed, easy to navigate as a tourist, covers everywhere we wanted to go, interchanges were easy, trains were in good and of course many busy stations featured the Spanish Solution! Definitely one of the best I've seen in Europe.
Having lived in Madrid for 2 years and visited many other European cities thereafter, I can (hopefully objectively) say that Madrid definitely has the best metro system in Europe, especially in terms of cleanliness and well lit-ness. One thing that immediately makes me dislike a system is when its stations are dark and dingy. The white walls and bright lights of the Madrid Metro give a modern feel to it while at the same time making it feel safer for everybody. Some of my girl friends have said that it is because of this reason that they don’t feel scared to ride the metro, even late at night.
I absolutely agree although the lack of 24 hour service even on weekends is a little disappointing especially considering how lively Madrid is late at night, even on weekdays but definitely on the weekend.
Dimly lit station platforms and train interiors make the interiors welcoming and easier on the eyes. Modernisation has resulted in very harsh lighting and crap train designs
did you really call it clean...?
true, it is very clean, coparable to asian metros. However, trains running only every 20 minutes off peak is a disaster. In August it is even worse when drivers go on vacation (approved by unions)
@@emk3519 lo es, está todo súper limpio
I've been to Madrid several times, and I can say that it's a great city above and below ground. The Metro is definitely one of the best features of the city.
Above is just majestic
I lived in Madrid for half a year (for an internship) back in 2015 and this sums it up pretty well. Normally I don't like being without a car but during my stay in Madrid I not only didn't miss it for a single second but I was actually glad I left my car at home. It would've been way more hassle than it was worth and I doubt it would've been any faster to get to and from work or even the shops.
The transit system there fucking rules, trains were always on time. All of the ones I rode had A/C. fast, comfy, pretty cheap too. What's not to love?
The flat I rented was a 5 minute walk from puerta del sol with all its shops/restaurants and a sizable transit hub. From leaving the flat to entering the office was about a 25-30 minute journey.
Nice weather, beautiful city, awesome food, super close to literally everything. It's not an understatement to say that I absolute loved my time there.
My co-student (since you had to go in groups of at least 2) actually loved it so much that he decided to stay. Met a girl there and recently got married, all because we took the gamble of going international on our internship. Funny how life can go huh.
Sounds awesome. I'm also interested in doing an internship in Madrid. May I ask, did you get paid for your internship? As I've read that most internships in Spain don't pay
@@cocazade7703Unfortunately not, my parents helped cover my expenses while there and I used some of my own savings as well. They did pay for our public transit passes though so there's that.
It was an amazing experience that I would do again in a heartbeat but unfortunately you gotta make sure you've got the means to cover a couple months rent + expenses like food.
I lived there for six months on the Erasmus programme, and I can agree with everything you said. If I hadn’t had to return home for my final year of college, I’d still be there.
Don't know a single word in Spanish and used the metro all the time during my visit to Madrid. It was so straightforward, i couldn't believe it...
My favorite feature of the metro system is, by far, how easy it is to get to the platforms. Not only do all metro entrances indicate which lines you can access through them, but also the hallways have lines drawn on their walls that indicate which metro line they go to. So, for example, say you want to take line five (light green), you'd enter the station and follow written indications, but also, there would be light green lines on the walls that you can follow to your platform, which is super useful for those times indications are not clear, and for those who don't speak Spanish
I remember that now, very clever.
Thanks for summing it all up. I’ve been to Montreal, NY, Philadelphia, SF, and London. My wife has been to Italy and France. And the best Metro we ever experienced was in Madrid.
Only DC’s metro comes close, but not nearly enough
Spain is such a great country if you love trains to the point where it should be associated with its trains in the way people automatically think trains when they think Japan.
Spain has treated its trains like garbage lately, dismantling many lines and thus isolating huge chunks of territory which depended on the train for communication, such as the Northwestern mining regions; and all of that for the sake of privatising railway transportation, which should never be permitted, given it was the state the only entity capable of building and maintaining the railways, which are a public service and should never be business-oriented.
@@rodrigoconesacampos1524 yeah we have a line connecting Madrid and Burgos which is very long and it’s not in service since many many years ago
@@diegomatamoros3940 high speed train to Burgos opens in just a few months...
LOL!! Spain and Japan, as a spaniard just the idea of comparing the two countries makes me wheeze.
Spain is only train-friendly when it comes to high speed. We have an excessively large and expensive public HS network where the public railways company (Renfe) is being forced to leave a chunk of the benefits to private operators from abroad (Ouigo from France and Iryo from Italy), which is ludicrous to say the least.
And everything else is a big mess. The last night trains were removed during the pandemic and it's been officially confirmed now that they aren't coming back.
Commuter and regional public railways are falling into a catastrophic state: old and broken trains, line closures, reduced frequencies, growing insecurity, and so on.
And the rail freight market has been shrinking for many years now.
Japan?? Japan is LIGHT YEARS ahead of us.
@@diegomatamoros3940 madrid to burgos literally the less useful line, jesus christ honestly, why in this country every single longer distance line needs to be run with trains at 300kmph???
What I understood is that the soil in Madrid is perfect for tunneling: no weak mud as here in the Netherlands, uncuttable granite or an unstable pile of rocks, but a nice stable kind of rock which tunnelboring machines comfortably breeze through.
Add to that the fact that Spain is European champion and world elite in building mixed and dense neighborhoods, and you have the perfect background for a superb metro system.
Madrid has good soil for excavating metro tunnels, but only Madrid. Line 7b was finished in a hurry to get it all done by 2007 and to make the current political party governing the region look better. It ran under the streets of San Fernando del Henares, and the soil there was a lot softer, due to the town being next to the Henares river. The tunnels weren’t built right and underwater streams started to flow towards the tunnels. This made the soil unstable or something and houses started to get damaged, and some damages caused by these streams can’t be fixed, meaning that some people had to evacuate their homes because of the metro. The line has been closed over ten times in its short history, but little to no progress has been made. This makes the line by far the worst line of all
Edit: it’s the Jarama river, but for some reason the town is called San Fernando del Henares
Even many of the Madrid suburbs feature relatively high density. It means the metro works outside the city center as well, without the need for branching!
except some points of line 7 where the soil is bad and numerous apartments had to be abandoned because cracks in houses. Also, the soil is very wet in line 12 and it went under refurbishment multiple times until now to reinforce multiple points and foundations
Not the soil but the political decisions are what matters to develop a mass transit system
@@willingshelf
El henares si que pasa por San Fernando, pero no por la ciudad (al menos por ahora no hay nada construido allí), si no entre la parte entre San Fernando y mejorada en medio de la nada...
De hecho el río henares desemboca en el río Jarama en San Fernando
You mentioned the major train stations, but Madrid has abundant well-placed intermodal hubs, such as
Avenida de América, Méndez Álvaro, Moncloa, Plaza de Castilla & Plaza Elíptica and these are well-served by the Metro. In fact, they are great passenger feeders to the metro!
The overall connectivity with Cercanias is also great, but I think you will address that in the future...
My favourite feature of the Madrid metro is the Chamberí Station. It is one of the first stations built in 1919 but when it was decided somtime i think in the 60s or 70s to expand the length of the first line stations Chamberí was closed due to the station, if expanded would have been to close to another station. Later it was made a station-museum where you can enter and see the station exactly how it was when it closed with even old ads from the 20s.
and you can see the trains with passengers going through this station!
Well, I can tell you from personal experience that it's damn good. I've ridden the transit systems in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia and they all seem to be really good.
I recall being impressed by the walk-through trains and the automated signs inside of them--it's a comfortable ride experience and it's really clear where you are and where you are going.
Yeah everything visually feels very well designed!
@@RMTransit I was there during a historic heat wave and it was pretty hot inside some of the stations. That was when I learned the charming fact that Spanish ladies still accessorize with fans to the present day.
@@MattMcIrvin Hey, you're here too!
@@MattMcIrvin I've known of many tourists in Spain who thought those fans were sold as souvenirs or who thought that the people using them were on costumes. Simply, in a hot and dry climate they are very effective.
Madrid has seen recent improvements to the cellphone connectivity underground. This is hugely important for the experience during a ride... that way I can listen to a podcast and tune out.
I didn't realize just how well Madrid did this until I went to London last month and had no cell service on any below-ground tube line. I've never had a single connection issue in Madrid!
It's a shame he hasn't mentioned that, since it's one of the most important features in any transit systems!
Most metro lines have 4G coverage, unfortunately Cercanías railways don't have such commodities
@@nathanthompson6676 Remembered that Tube commuters voted against having cell service below ground so they won't be disturbed by others talking on the phone
Yay! You actually did it, I felt that nobody was doing enough videos about Madrid's metro even tough it is one of the biggest metro systems in Europe
I took madrid metro for the first time on my own at ten years old and never stopped since. Having travelled to many european cities I can confirm it is the best one indeed, for its efficiency, safety and cleanliness. Great video.
And huge extension
While the Metro de Madrid is definitely great, what caught me a bit off-guard was Principe Pio. Imo it has a funky layout with one track of suburban rail running through the excavated station hall above the Metro lines. Also, it took me a while to realize that the bus terminal is entirely underground. I was really impressed by the layout which separates arrival and departure areas and allows buses to drive directly onto the the A-5 without stopping at any traffic lights.
Principe Pio is my favourite suburban rail station just because of that track
Having lived in Madrid as a kid, I remember the Estación Sur de Autobuses (in Méndez Alvaro IIRC, on the all-important Circular line 6) as also having its own tunnels towards the ring roads and highways. And with well over 60 platforms it had the look and feel of an airport to me.
Great video as always! One thing I'd like to point out, is Madrid's public transport motto, which is: nos mueve Madrid= Madrid moves us. So simple, but yet so meaningful.
I had the opportunity to be an Erasmus student in Granada for one year and to visit Madrid and other amazing places in Spain. What can I say, they know what they are doing from many points of view! Cheers! Oohh, excusame me, SALUD!
One funny thing of MetroMadrid is that Metro trains drive on the left while the rest of spanish trains drive on the right.
This is because originally in Madrid we used to drive on the Left, and MetroMadrid was established before the country switched to the right
“The rest of Spanish trains [run] on the right” - that’s not entirely true. While the majority of Spain’s rail system does (including all newly-built ones), there are some oddballs here and there which still have left-hand running.
In fact, take a trip one day on Cercanías Madrid’s line C-8 or C-10 going northwest, and you’ll notice that before arriving at Pinar de las Rozas station, there is a series of flyovers that shift the trains from running on the right to running on the left.
I literally landed in Madrid (I'm still in the airport), checked my subscriptions, and what a conicidence!
Ooo, I've been waiting for this one! Madrid has such an amazing, big system that few seem to be aware of. Line 10 has such an interesting history of being rebuilt several times, and I think it's cool that a few lines had platform lengths extended at various times. Spain seems to do really well at transit in general and coming up with good solutions. I wish North America could do that. I look forward to your video on the suburban system of Madrid. That thing is massive.
I lived in Madrid for a year and the top underrated feature of the Metro is the wayfinding system. It really is genius in how intuitive it is, even in tight convoluted corridors of some of the older stations. I also kinda like that Madrid found a station layout that works for them and they're using it extensively in new extensions, but also major refurbishments. It may take away some of the uniqueness, but it makes the system intuitive and pleasant to use.
Not sure if its a legend but as far as i know the wayfind system is so simple and colored because when the first metro lines were created there was a portion of the population that was illiterate so following colors and counting stops was a very simple rule to follow.
@@javieru53 I'd say it's very likely, but it still works. London Underground had a similar feature, with color-coded wall tiles.
Madrid in particular is very consistent with the hallway markings - navy blue for Metro, red for Cercanías, smaller colored stripe underneath to indicate the line.
Correction 6:31 - part of the Suburbano's route is now a part of line 5, instead of as shown.
If you like this video don't forget to like, share and subscribe!
There are even more interesting things to mention about
-The platforms at Sol in Line 1 aren't parallel to each other being the first
-if you consider the entirety of The Sol station with both Metro and Cercanias as a whole you are in the presence of the largest Man made cavern
- most Stations have artistic representation of the place they are located and even some are regarded as Museums thanks to the diferent archeological discoveries made along the lines
- there used to be a TV channel exclusive to the metro, it was mostly news and special reports made by the Metro company about their stations and their surroundings
- there are various Ghost Stations, the most famous being chamberi and the others are located in Line 12 Waiting to be open
- not everything made in 07 was good as an example the Lines 12, 8 and 7B are poorly designed and received way to much water damage and most of Line 7 gets closed at least once a year during months
- The Chamartin station has been ready to provide service to Three Lines since 2007 with two Empty platforms that are supposed to be part of Line 11
-I recommend you to check the Chamartin nuevo Norte project
2:20 Line also doesn't go south west.
I've lived in Madrid for 5 years and I can attest that its public transport is awesome.
I found the Metro to be the most useful system for me, but the bus system and the commuter train (which is used a lot within the city) are also excellent.
I've been waiting for this video since I subscribed to your channel and I really enjoyed it! Madrid's metro system is incredibly cool, specially for young people as we only pay 20€/month for unlimited usage, so we can avoid the inconvenience of paying and having a car in a large city
In 2024 the prices went down a lot, now for young people it costs only 20€ to make the pass and 8€ to charge it for a month
Hola! Soy de Madrid!!! Gracias por hacer este vídeo y compartirlo! Tenemos un gran Transporte público en Madrid y cada día estamos mejorándolo y modernizando aún más. Siempre tenemos el metro en obras, pero merece la pena, nos hemos acostumbrado a ello jajaja! en pocos años se han modernizado las estaciones, los andenes, los vagones, etc Aunque también hay puntos negativos como que no haya personal más que en unas pocas estaciones (mucha gente necesita ayuda a veces), los robos, las obras interminables, la espera entre un metro y otro, las huelgas... Quizás estos inconvenientes son más problemáticos para quienes lo utilizamos a diario. Pero en general, creo que lo positivo pesa más. Seguiremos mejorando ^^
Y el amianto eh.
¡Hola! Soy de EE.UU, y gracias por explicarse sobre su sistema de transporte pública. Ahora tengo ganas de ir a Madrid en el futuro, jaja. ¡Felicitaciones!
@@verybarebones casi nada, más los esperados cortes veraniegoa de las líneas jajaja Espero que lo solucionen, porque el amianto es serio y grave, es lo que pasa con cosas tan antiguas, te lo encuentras en las casas, imagínate aquí
@@soccerruben1 Hombre, ven a vernos por más cosas jajaja Seguro que cuando vengas verás más cosas "futuristas" que el metro está instalando poco a poco en todas las estaciones
@@verybarebones El amianto lo retiraron hace mucho cuando encontraron amianto en la 5000 1mera
Talking about Spanish Metro Lines you should Check Bilbao's Metro, Although relatively small with only 3 lines, It is a very interesting one because of its architecture.
You forgot to mention the Madrid Metro map,it is a master piece itself. Madrid metro layout,signals,map and ticket machines made it the most pleasant metro to use I know even if you are new to the city. It is dead simple to use,very well integrated web site and tools for tourism.I never felt amazed by any other major metro system in EU being from Madrid.
Every second of this video had me impressed about how Spain do their public infrastracture well. All of the stations and trains look well maintained and the whole system is extensive and uniform.
You mentioned in the video that a particularity of Metro de Madrid is that all lines run using overhead catenary, mostly rigid catenary. That is because they invested quite a lot of money in R&D and they hold several patents on specific designs and types of rigid catenary.
Fun fact: Due to the length increase in Line 1, the Chamberí station has closed because extending its platforms result in a shorter distance between the it and the next station and Sol station had to skew their tracks because it was built under historic buildings.
And is now a free museum, restored to look as it did in the 60s.
Talking of short distances between stations, Atocha and Atocha Renfe are so close you can see the platforms from each other.
@@DavidPashley same with Alonso Martínez and Bilbao, and Gran Vía and Callao
@@DavidPashley yay? 🤣
@@Batcow-1138 nah, there are many stations with non-parallel platforms
@@DavidPashley atocha is now called Estación del Arte and atocha Renfe will be (if it isn't already, I don't remember) Atocha
The Madrid metro is a lot of fun, it goes everywhere you want, is economical, clean and efficient, one of my favourites alongside Moscow and Tokyo.
Madrid public transport is so good and cheap. As a teenager without a car, I can just pay 10 euros a month for a public transport card that allows me to take as many trains and buses as I want (in the region of madrid). This is so useful because this allows me to litterally go anywhere
I've been on Madrid's metro many times, and I really love it. Thanks for making another video on Spain.
I grew up going to Madrid. Best video you’ve made so far. Can’t wait for the cercanias video
Natives from Madrid don't know how much of a good system they have until they leave and try other systems, as much as I like to trash talk the Metro as an almost daily user, it truly is a wonder and absolutely reliable. What I dislike are some minor details like some stations can be a bit of a maze or some platforms feel a bit too narrow at some places for comfort (line 6 on Plaza Elíptica has a lot of users and the width is comparable to early 20th century metro stations)
Little thing: I wish line 10 had a higher frequency...
@@fbrtnrsthf I have a love-hate relationship with line 10 because of that, it does go (or at least feel) fast at many places within the city and the stations are usually very fine and not excessively deep or apart from the entrance (ehem line 9)
We can improve a lot, higher frequency and having it open 24/7.
What i love about the madrid metro is how stations are decorated based on a theme of the place of the city they are in , like retiro is a famous park and the metro is decorated as a park, plaza de españa has the walls decorated with the spanish flag as its called plaza of spain, chueca is the gay neighbourhood of madrid and is decorated with the gay flag on its walls, the planetarium has planets hanging from the ceiling etc and it gives a vibe and life to the system
So proud to see this kind of international recognition of our city! I have always lived in Madrid and used the metro many times, it is the most convenient transport specially when going down town.
After the big amount of extensions opened in 2007 there was a long pause in new construction projects, though they did a lot of renovation on existing lines. The new extension of line 11 will be really interesting.
I have been to Madrid in 2014 and 2019, rode the system many times. Great network they have. If only we had hired Madrid engineers and contractors for the Toronto Crosstown line it would have been done in 5 years not the 12 we are suffering through.
Well I can tell you it's the same Bombardier / Alstom signaling solution team! The construction contractor is surely different though, yes.
As a spaniard who moved to Madrid in 2020, using the metro was the easiest part of moving there. It's a real pity we don't get the same transit options on the rest of the country, mainly in unpopulated areas due to the lack of industrialisation. Train service in the countryside is being limited and decreased each year, while high-speed networks are growing. It's cool seeing transit evolve in the bigger cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Sevilla, Valencia, but regions like León, Soria, Burgos, Huelva, Cáceres or Teruel are suffering serious needs for transit reforms
Hardly anyone lives in Teruel or Huelva, there is nearly no comparison. Investment is made in populated areas where the high costs can be justified with future earnings. That's why Madrid's public transport will always be the best in Spain.
teruel no existe
You can´t compare large cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, to others like Leon, Burgos, or Gijón where I live. There is no real need of a metro here, even if it has been announced and half built. So much public money spent here for such a nonsense. People here are so angry about this... Cheers.
Otro problema que plantea la construcción del metro o más bien nuestra tierra es que en cuanto haces un agujero encontramos restos arqueológicos. Casi todas nuestras ciudades están ubicadas sobre ciudades romanas o medievales, y obviamente no es una opción reventar los restos arqueológicos y los costes se irían por las nubes si se musealizara todo como por ejemplo en ópera. Pero estoy de acuerdo, hay muchas ciudades que necesitan una buena inversión en transporte público, y de los pueblos ya ni hablamos... Aquí en CLM han puesto ahora transporte a demanda para los pueblos y de momento parece una buena solución sabiendo que somos una de las zonas más despobladas de España!
Thanks for the video!! These was a great explanation. Its imposible not to fall on love with Madrid Metro...
Lovely!! I love Madrid's metro, thank you for covering it ☺️
Love Madrid Metro. Took it back in 2007. Very convenient and you can take it anywhere within Madrid
I've been looking forward to this video, so thanks for covering Madrid. It does have an amazing public transit system. It helps that the city is densely populated and almost exclusively urban rather than suburban. Couple of comments:
* The AVE tunnel was bored 11 years ago, but still isn't in service
* Line 5's connection at Embajadores is actually Acacias, which is like the Bank/Monument in London. It takes several minutes to walk between them, but you can do it all underground.
Yeah I really don't know what's up with the HSR tunnel.
I don't think anyone does. :) They claim "this year", but it's been coming for ages. Spanish infrastructure is defined by delays. I don't know what I'd do it something was delivered on time. I think they're just overly optimistic. But it's great when it does get finished.
@@RMTransit It ran out of funding in 2011 as a late effect of the 2007 financial crisis. It is now finished and undergoing testing.
@@RMTransit they just don't have any cross-city service yet, mainly because a couple of reasons:
1) The underground passing station at Atocha is yet to be built (Atocha current long distance station is a terminal station), so trains going through the tunnel can only call at Chamartín.
2) Renfe has a huge lack of trains to serve more routes.
So basically they don't have the capacity for serving more lines crossing Madrid and they prefer to keep consistency of which destinations are served from which station. This situation will change probably this year as the Atocha terminal station is near its capacity limit and Ouigo and Iryo have requested to use some capacity from Madrid to Valencia, so they will have to start using the Chamartín station for going to Valencia and therefore the tunnel will start commercial services.
Anyway the tunnel is already in use just for moving trains from one part of the network to another (and it's the only standard gauge link between both sections of the network, so it's still kind of strategic).
@@jandron94 no, that's not possible as both Seville and Barcelona trains enter to Madrid through the south of the city to Atocha, so for such a service calling in both stations to exist, it would have to be something like "Barcelona-Atocha-Chamartin-(Reverse)-Atocha-Seville".
BUT nowadays there are direct Barcelona-Seville AVE services not calling at Madrid so making those direct services to stop at Madrid wouldn't make much commercial sense because the end to end travel time wouldn't be as competitive. Maybe in the far future if a new route from the Barcelona route to Chamartin vía the airport is created (this isn't even planned) that could be made viable.
Increíble . Nice vídeo as always thanks you for lisening the sugestion . My favorite thing about Metro de Madrid is the 6000 series and Príncipe Pío interchange. I Hope you do more spanish railways in the future!
Not just the metro, but also the city amazed me so much. Its very beautiful, clean and Chic. Gran Via is amazing and Spanish People are the best ❤. I was not expecting that much of Spain and it was a big Surprise. Madrid > Barcelona by the way
Having lived in Madrid I think they have the best system! I many used the Cercanías as most of the time I'd rather just walk 20 minutes
You should make a video about the Metro System in Spain. It has 9 metro systems in a country of 47 million inhabitants. It is the 5th country in the world with the most cities with a Metro system, after Germany, USA, China and Japan. There are 9 cities in the country that have a Metro System
Does Granada’s system count? It’s basically a tram network with a tunnel under the city
You should totally talk about this because there are many metros in Spain and also talk about cercanias not only in Madrid but in other cities like Sevilla
Brasil has just 8 and its so much bigger
India has 16 metro systems.
Most of America's metros are trams...
Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and Palma are full metro. Alicante, Malaga, Sevilla and Granada are light metro.
I have been waiting for this video since i've known this channel
Haha well here you go!
I would love an outside view of Lisbon Metro system. As an enthusiast, I think I know a lot of stuff, but this videos always kick me off!
The Madrid Metro is splendid. Fast, efficient, smartly designed, clean,punctual and extensive. One of the best in the world.❤
you should do a video on salt lake city's tram, bus and rail system, its a weirdly good system for a small american city
I probably will (I actually had one years ago)
The circular line 12 only connects once to the rest of the metro network (for now) but it crosses the Cercanias suburban rail in 6 stations for lines C-3, C-4 and C-5
I am surprised that they're not planning on extending line 11 down to 12, but instead turning west to 10.
@@DavidPashley An extension to the South to connect to line 12 was in the cards at some point. It will not be built under the current project but it might come back in the future as a branch. Line 3 is being extended to line 12 on the eastern side and might be enough for the near future (in combination with the Cercanias links)
Also, an extension to L10 has been planned, they want it to go to Móstoles
@@willingshelf that doesn't seem like it would give much benefit over line 12 compared to something like extending it to Fuenlabrada, cutting metro sur in half. I guess it would help people in Alcorcón
Wow! Amazing! Thank you Reece.
It's nice to see more coverage of my city and my country on one of my fave channels.
Si glad to see this. I have lived in Boston, New York, Chicago and Mexico City and the metro system I’ve liked the most and found most useful is Madrids by far
I never thought I'd say this, but... Wow, those fare gates are super sleek!
One on the things not mentioned and that I find makes Madrid metro shine: Everything is dessigned to help the blind/visually impaired people. The bright colours in many stations, the sharp contrast in the colours of the trains, mind the floors! always helping you to be guided, all the panel are writen in Brailey... and it is the Metro in the wold most friendly for people in wheelchairs (and improving). I have lived in several European cities. Madrid public transport system (metro included) is the best in Europe. When I travel I am always amazed of how many of the user-friendly meassures taken in Madrid are not copied in other main European cities. They do make life easier...
Spain has really high profile representation for blind people. When I lived in Madrid, I would see the ONCE (blind organisation) lottery sellers everywhere. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that they’re considered in the design of the metro.
I spent one day in Madrid and was shocked by how great the metro is. It's much nicer than Barcelona's, though Barcelona has better frequency in my experience
Fiiinally. You took your time getting to this one, but you did it really well. I visited Madrid on a university art trip back in 2000 and even back then, I was very impressed and surprised by both the city and the Metro system. It is very underrated on the world stage. I have no idea why. Suggestion for the next one: Kiev!
It definitely looks remarkable. I have ridden the Barcelona Metro and there seem to be a few similarities to Madrid’s. I like their use overhead electric pickup. Oddly, I don’t see a lot of the “Spanish Solution” in the pics shown in the video. Is that just reserved for major stations?Changing topics (and I have asked this before :-) ) will you be covering the opening of The Elizabeth Line on the 24th? This is probably the most exciting inauguration in the last few decades.
Spanish solution applies only in very crowded stations from the 60s-80s
Haha you'll have to stay tuned to see about that
@@loplopthebird1860 thanks for the info!
@@loplopthebird1860 they do on Miguel Hernández on line 1, which was a 1994 extension. It's a very jarring swerve on the approach to the station.
Well I live in Coventry in the UK. It's an hour by express train to London Euston. The Elizabeth Line is opening tomorrow... and I'll be there! Can't tell you how excited I am because there's been lots of coverage of the line and the design of the new underground stations, which look fantastic! It's also pretty cool because the first stage of the Bank station upgrade opened last week... it's a major expansion of a very busy, crowded interchange, so a great benefit.
I just had a chance to ride the Madrid system. Very clean and bright at the various stations we encountered. Cost per pride is reasonable. The only bummer is that like most of the metro systems, if you have difficulty taking stairs, much of the system is hopeless. At one station there were handicap doors right in front of stairs that took you 2 stories up. Why bother with the automated doors. Anyone needing those doors is unlikely to be able to climb the stairs. My wife can not use this system, or Paris for that matter. So far the only system I have come across that is totally accessible is Vienna. Vienna also has amazingly low weekly rate of around 22 Euro (when we there in 2019). Another item I love about Madrid’s system was the remarkable 4 to 5 minute interval. There was never any waiting of more than 4 minutes when transferring. So for those who can walk stairs, this system is fantastic.
Maybe you missed the signs showing where the accessible access was? I've seen people struggling with a flight of stairs with a lift just behind them.
¡Fantastic Video! I´m from Madrid, and a Metro lover too... So complete, and interesting. And i think its one of the best suburban transports of the wordl...
I was in Madrid and used the metro. Absolutely the best!
Madrid is amazing 😍
By the way, MetroNorte, MetroEste, TFM and MetroSur, have a different fare (just like the other ones).
I rode the Madrid metro in 1990 or so, and it was phenomenal. Much like now, everything was in English as well as Spanish, and very clean and organized. (Also, Madrid's phone booths* also put instructions in four languages on giant posters...great city. *A phone booth was a privacy*** enclosure with a very large phone contraption inside. **Privacy was an old concept involving not sharing your conversation with everyone around you...)
Yeah, when I was in Madrid, I was amazed by its metro system. But again, I'm from New York, so yeah...
Why do some New Yorkers crap on New York like that? It still has one of the best transit systems in the world, and it's the only big city in the US where you don't need a car.
Honestly, the NYC subway has only one strength and that is that it’s coverage of the city is huge. Yeah sure it might be open 24hrs but who actually takes the subway late at night? I certainly wouldn’t. The system is slow, and decrepit and it’s a really shame because it can truly be world class if it got the TLC it deserves
@@DanTheCaptain So it's functional and has great opening hours, but it's not a shiny object. Not everything needs to be a shiny object. It is still an impressive system. And I would take the subway at night, there's a lot of reasons why one would do it, work, travel, partying etc.
@@aristeon5908 Yes it definitely is an impressive system, just a bit rough around the edges. I was just pointing out how it’s not in the best state. Any system that big and that runs 24/7 is worthy of praise. Also like the new train sets that will be introduced soon
@@DanTheCaptain Now we agree. It's a great system, could look better, but it's still very functional and comprehensive. In New York City you don't need a car, and that's thanks to the subway. Personally, my favourite metros are Hong Kong and Berlin, but NYC is still a great world class system.
Love the look of the trains & loved the logo too.
Hi! As a Madrileña myself I am happy to see our metro system explained here. However, I would like to make a suggestion: have you considered exploring Seoul's metro system? For me it is absolutely impressive, and I am used to enjoy a good metro system such as Madrid's. It would be great to see a video from you covering that metro system, thank you!
10:44 This change of train is necessary because the extensions of these metro lines belong to another "zone". Specifically: "zone b" if you want to enter "zone b" you need a more expensive metro ticket than zone A. You leave the train in zone A on the platform, cross the barrier with your ticket to zone b and you get on the train that goes to zone b.
You should consider doing Bucharest, Romania! In my opinion it is one of the most underrated systems in the world, because it has SO many unique features. You have an almost complete circle line that cant operate as an actual circle, a station with one of the narrowest platforms in Mainland Europe, two smaller suburban satellite lines not reaching the city centre (one of them has a branch as well) and a lot of route sharing between lines. There is also something really odd at the end of a line. Between the actual terminus and the depot there is a single-track tunnel in which they built a single-platform station only used by a few trains per day. And all that on the same system. I think the system has so much strange but cool stuff on it!
I like the way that once you're on the right platform, you'll get the right train. There's no express trains, no lines with branches where you need to get the one that ends in a certain place etc.
As a person who spent a lot of time in the Metro, theres is a lot to say.
The nost important i think are the next: Recently Line 3 and Line 11 will be extended. Line 11 will reach Pinar de Chamartin crossing the center of the city, for the odther side, the Line 3 will only reach the station of El Casar, wich is a Line 12 station, giving another access to the rest of the rest of Metro than Puerta del Sur (if we dont have in mind Cercania Renfe).
Madrid's metro system is fantastic and it's about to expand even more.
I just moved to a town nearby Madrid a few months ago, and even though I only visit on weekends, I feel that I've got the mapping of the major lines I travel nailed down quite well. It's so easy to use and a million miles ahead of my American home town in terms of... well, everything (we had a sorry excuse for a bus system and that was it). I'm honestly obsessed with the ease of the metro and the convenience it provides to me as a visitor, even on its busier days.
On average I wait maybe 1 or 2 minutes for a metro car, and six minutes under the worst conditions. So very, very frequent trains is key. Also, the Madrid metro has cell phone connectivity underground virtually everywhere! Which is really nice. It's clean, organized, and reliable.
Excelent video! Since you've already covered Santiago and São Paulo, I'm really looking foward to the next major South American metro system, Buenos Aires!
i’ve been waiting for this one! you should do one on barcelona! thank you so much!
The tunnel uniting Chamartín and Atocha is extra-officially named as "túnel de la risa" (laughter tunnel) due to its notorious wind's sound reflection (reverberation) and diffraction when the trains cut through the air in their regular trips.
Esa no es la razón de que se llame así. Búscalo.
Beautiful city and beautiful METRO
I'd love to see a video on Budapest! The second oldest metro in the world (if I'm not mistaken) and one of the best connected tram networks with an insane amount of lines. Happy to help too seeing I grew up in the city and go back regularly.
This jump in animation quality is really great!
These coverage videos are so awesome! Please cover Rotterdam‘s metro and tram systems.
Impressed by how neat and tidy it looks trains shiny not grimy ,my nurse is from Madrid she’s tidy too and being of Spanish/Irish decent well proud ,I hope TfL give our system a good deep clean and tidy up too
I commented in the past how interesting I would find a video about Hamburgs transit as a whole, but actually it's possible to only look at the metro: Currently 4 Lines, a fifth being built, another one extended. But there were bigger plans in the past, which can be found on Wikipedia. Only a few of the old plans can be see, but the not-building of the lines leads to one big station without a metro station, and this station is currently relocated to a point where... there is no metro too.
I'll definitely cover Hamburg in the future, sit tight!
I live in Madrid (because im spanish boi) and I really like our metro, especialy the modern ones!
And is a very clean metro, rarely you see something dirty :)
One comment. Saying the L12 goes across "a bunch of towns" is probably very underestimating the capacity. It runs through Alcorcon (160k), Mostoles (205k), Fuenlabrada (195k), Getafe (160k) and Leganes (195k). Those are well developed cities on their own, and also have different university campuses, so people from all over the city to study.
Fun fact: how to tell Madrileños apart? Madrileños call the lines by their actual name, their number, while many foreigners (be it from elsewhere Spain or actual foreigners) by the color. But there are multiple lines with the same color so, when they say “the green line blablabla” I replay “which one? 5, 11 or 12?” I usually love their reaction.
Another fun fact: every madrileño will remember the first time they used the Metro unaccompanied. I actually remember taking my younger sister, teaching and reassuring her, and off she went.
For you all to know, most of the extensions opened in the early 2000s featured numerous poor desing decisions such as ridiculously large stations for low traffic areas, numerous zig-zag curves which make the travel times longer to save money during the construction phase by avoiding inclines... But the biggest atrocity is the metro ligero. There are HUGE partes of line ML3 that run through completely empty land but make haundreds of tight turns in the middle of nowhere to avoid nothing which reduce substantially the average speed.
I almost forgot that the last years many, many HUGE structural problems have been discovered in the Metro Este part of Linea 7. The thing is that in order to save in construction costs, the tunnel was made through unstable terrain prone to floodings. In addition, many houses above the tunnels have suffered structural damage, some irreparable, and families hava been displaced from their homes. All thanks to the Partido Popular which was in charge of the Gobierno de la Comunidad de Madrid in that period (and now), known for its flagrant corruption in Madrid and Valencia.
Metiendo la política por medio en todo y sin venir a cuento: ¡podemonguer o sociata a la vista! 🤦🏼🤣
@@rsnankivell1962 La política está en todo. Seas capaz de verla o no. Un saludo y que te mejores
@@1239719 El vídeo trata acerca del Metro de Madrid y como se construyó y no de quién lo construyó, ni de quién gobierna la Comunidad de Madrid, ni si lo hace bien o mal; así que tu barrila sobraba. Pero como veo que insistes con el polítiqueo fuera de lugar: disfruta de lo no votado, porque me parece que los tuyos van a pasarse muchos, muchos, muchos años sin gobernar en Madrid y con un poco de suerte en España...🤣🤣🤣
SOLO QUEDA VOX 🇪🇦💚💚🇪🇦. Mejórate tú de tu sectarismo...Saludos.
@@rsnankivell1962 acabas de darme la razón
I always love your videos, but I must say I was looking forward to the breakdown of the different types of trains and was disappointed when it didn’t come!
I've stopped doing EVERY model, since so often they are quite similar
Despite the Tranvía de Parla and Metro Ligero seeming to be the same, Tranvía de Parla is operated separately from every other metro system even though the regional transportation consortium internally considers it being ML-4 but not publicly
You should cover metro systems in the south of Spain! Malaga, Granada, Sevilla... they're small and quirky.
I would really love a video about the Prague metro. I am from Prague and I have to say it is one of the coolest, most beautiful and breathtaking metro system in Europe. Also I love your videos, continue on please!🎉
Very well explained. Well done!!
I would love to see a video about the public transit train system (subway, S-Bahn, Regional Rail) in Hamburg Germany. There are many projects planned or under way which aim to address the major issues with the current system.