Regional fact sheets – Municipality of Burgos
Deliverable D4.2
Burgos City Council
José María Diez • Patricia Cecín
September 2014
Contract N°: IEE/12/970/S12.670555
Table of contents
1 Spatial Analysis 3 1.1 Short overview of the Burgos area characteristics 3 1.2 The area geography and constraints 4 1.3 Transport and mobility infrastructure offered 6 2 Socioeconomic and demographic structure 7 3 Local public transport systems 8 4 References 12
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1 Spatial Analysis 1.1 Short overview of the Burgos area characteristics
Burgos is a city in northern Spain and the historic capital of Castile. It is situated in the middle of the roads Madrid-Bilbao and Barcelona-Santiago de Compostela, at the edge of the Iberian central plateau. It has about 180,000 inhabitants in the actual city and another 20,000 in the metropolitan area. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Burgos was once the capital of the Crown of Castile. It has many historic landmarks, of particular importance; the Cathedral of Burgos (declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984), Las Huelgas Reales Monastery and Miraflores Charterhouse. A large number of churches, palaces and other buildings from the medieval age remain. The Pilgrims Way is crossing the City (parallel to the river Arlanzon) and the Prehistoric Site of Atapuerca is only 15 km far from the city. Both also have been declared World Heritage Site.
Picture 1.1: The location of the Municipality of Burgos in Spain.
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It has a well-developed transportation system, forming the main communication node in northern Spain. In 2008, the international Burgos Airport started to offer commercial flights. Furthermore, AVE high speed trains are planned to start in service in 2015.
The Museum of Human Evolution was opened in 2010, unique in its kind across the world and projected to become one of the top 10 most-visited museums in Spain. The museum features the first Europeans, which lived in this area 800,000 years ago.
The Municipality and city covers 107.08 km2 and, very important, an elevation of 859 m which turns into one of the coldest Spanish Cities.
The population of the city is 179,906 with a density of 1,680 inhabitant/km2
At an elevation of 856 metres (2,808 ft), the city of Burgos experiences the continental Mediterranean climate. Burgos' climate features very cold and windy winters due to altitude and an inland location. Winters always include snow and temperatures below freezing. Burgos' continentality is caused by two principal factors: 1) distance from the sea and 2) higher altitude. Temperature ranges can be extreme and Burgos is much drier than Spain's coastal regions, although there is year-round precipitation. Average annual precipitation is 555 mm and the average annual relative humidity is 72%. In winter, temperatures very often (almost every day) drop below freezing, often reaching temperatures as low as −10 °C, and snowfalls are common, while the summer months are hot and see average high temperatures of 26.4 °C.
Politically, it is important to remark that the Bus Transportation System is a Department of the City Council; it belongs completely to the Council and managed by the Mobility Department.
1.2 The area geography and constraints
The local geography is 107.08 km2 and the main problems arisen are that some areas as the University Area (West), and the two main Industrial Areas: Gamonal, in the East and Villalonquejar, North-West, are far from the city centre. Distances are: the University Area and Gamonal Industrial Area about 6 km from the City Centre and around 13 km the Industrial Area of Villalonquéjar.
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Picture 1.2.1: A map of the City remarking the University and the Industrial Areas.
The City has got, nevertheless, a very flat configuration, without any problems, as it is configured along the river. Only some highs in the Castle Area, but it is an area that none is living there. Only around the city centre there is a kind of elevation, solved by accessible little internal roads in the City Centre, an electric escalator, and a lift to link two streets.
Picture 1.2.2 is a satellite photograph that provides a view of the geography of the area. The most important geographic constraint is the high area in the City Centre, solved as explained and only affecting 200 neighbours.
Picture 1.2.2: A Satellite map of the City remarking the only constrain in the City Centre.
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1.3 Transport and mobility infrastructure offered
The basic road network of the area is comprised by big roads, as it was explained as it is in the middle of two main axes in the northern Spain: South-North and West-East. The roads to south are to Madrid, when a small industrial area is located in that area. The roads to west cover Logroño (road to Barcelona) and Bilbao, although is located in the north of Spain, and the north roads link with Santander. The West roads are lnking to Valladolid and Santiago de Compostela.
Picture 1.3: Main roads to / from Burgos.
The importance of the internal roads deserves an explanation. The University area is reached only by Valladolid Street (to the West) and the Gamonal Area mainly Vitoria Street ((West) and the internal road and external ring road.
The Villalonquejar area can be reached from Valladolid street, Cantabria street or by the external ring road. It depends very much on the position of the company of factory, workers may choose one way or another (the area is covering more than 600 has, 6 million square meters).
Although counting with 20,000 inhabitants, the surroundings of Burgos does not mean a problem as they have experimented two situations:
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- First, the City decided to cover the are with the main services: water, electricity and transports. In that case the areas have implemented what is called Peripheral Mayors but they depend on the City of Burgos. - The second option is the areas very far from the City (more than 15 km). Those areas depend on the regional government in terms of water, electricity or transport, and the City Council can´t participate in the timetables, frequency or decisions of the PT commuting to the City, Nevertheless, the population of these villages is not high, less than 5,000 people. Due to the dispersion of the people living in the area, the regional government offers fixed buses to commute and transport on demand service, mainly for elderly people. Also provides buses for the children to move daily to schools and secondary schools.
2 Socioeconomic and demographic structure
Burgos has seen a process of immigration, being only 160,000 in the late 90s up to the 180,000 currently living. That was another reason why people started to walk less as the city limits expanded.
The population is also getting older. Although has got a good number of people in the 0-25 range, the main number of people is from 25-55, and being more than 65 an outstanding 23%.
Picture 2.1: Population distribution in Burgos
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The data of the elderly people is especially interesting at the time of studying the mobility patterns, as they use the bus often, and also thanks to the new generation of people over 65, it is important to remark the high use of the bike, more than the 4% of the general population, and getting a 8% of the people over 65 moving by bike.
Although the rates of rent per capita 26.186 € rank Burgos the 10th richest city in Spain, after the Basque Country cities, the Catalonian cities, Navarra and Madrid, there are special rates for elderly people with limited resources in transport (mainly focusing on elderly people and unemployed people).
3 Local public transport systems
The local policy objectives regarding the urban mobility were established in the earlier 2000s. Burgos signed the letter for the accessibility and mobility in 2001, and joined the CiViTAS Forum in 2004. Burgos presented its SUMP in 2005, being one of the first Spanish cities if not the first in developing one. The SUMP covers the period 2005-2015 and was the base for the measures and activities already performed in the city in terms of sustainable mobility.
In the same year 2005 Burgos started the CiViTAS Caravel project under the umbrella of the CiViTAS II initiative with the cities of Krakow, Stuttgart and Genoa, in which, in the period 2005-2009 a good number of the actions planed in the SUMP were developed. Burgos developed its Bicycle Plan in 2010, and also has got a specific plan for “Mobility to the Industrial Areas” or the “Plan for the Delivery of Goods” mainly in the city centre.
Also Burgos belongs to “Cities for Mobility”, “Covenant of Mayors”, “Walking Cities” Networks and is the Secretariat of the CiViNET Network for Spain and Portugal. In terms of European projects, Burgos has participated in the mentioned CiViTAS, SUMOBIS (Interreg SUDOE in which the mobility office was implemented, with the cities of Toulouse, Lisbon or Oviedo among others), SaMERU (DG Move with the cities of Southend on Sea, Lancashire County Council or Modena, regarding elderly people and relation with the bicycle in the case of Burgos), Miciudad CO2 (Interreg SUDOE with the cities of Málaga or Villanova de Gaia about sustainable development, in which a part was regarding mobility), POSSE (Interreg Regio with the cities of Reading, Berlin or Pisa, among others, regarding Open Data in ITS), CHAMP (IEE, regarding the bicycle strategy and actions with the cities of Edinburgh, Ljubljana or Bolzano, among others), CiViNET (DG Move with the creation of the local networks, in which Burgos was the project coordinator, with Toulouse, Genoa, Lancashire County Council and Ljubljana) to mention the most topic-related to Smart Move.
Burgos has been developing through plans and actions a policy completely focusing on the reduction of the private vehicle and in order to favour walking, bicycle and PT. Out of all the modal split efforts, clearly cycling has been the most successful one, moving from hardly a 0,04% of the total commuters in 2003 up to 4% in 2011. Currently Burgos is the second city in terms of the use of the bicycle in Spain, and the rest of the modal split is walking with a 45% (decreasing, also because of the widening of the city which affects in
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terms of distance and the decision of walking or not), PT (23%, also slightly decreasing due to the crisis as well) and private vehicle (27% which is a very good figure even at European level) with a 1% in motorbike, also caused because of the new regulation (everybody with a licence car can drive a motorbike up to 125 cc without any other test from 2008).
The PT system belongs entirely to the City Council, and the drivers are civil servants. In fact, this is the reason that a new scheme to provide new lines and frequencies expected to be developed in the early 2014 was not implemented. The new scheme needed more drivers in order to cover the new service, but the Spanish laws in these moments don´t allow recruiting new civil servants.
Picture 3.1.1: The transport network in Burgos
As it can be seen the lines covering the Industrial Areas are only one for Villalonquéjar and two for the Gamonal Area. The University is covered by more lines, but effectively only by three, out of a total of 33 lines.
The number of trips has been reducing the last years to only 12M trips in the year 2013. Some reasons are the rate of unemployment, as in Burgos counts only with a 15%, much lesser than the rest of Spain, the number of people using the PT has constantly decreased, equally as the rest of Spain.
The PT system is not profitable and needs help from the National Government, as almost the rest of Spain. The only line covering the cost is the number one, all along the river linking the West and the East areas of the city throughout the City Centre.
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There is a constant decreased of the number of users of the PT, also because the higher number of the users of the bicycle.
The PT system is converting into Open Data, with a view of developing an app for the smart phone and the integration in google maps. It is possible only clicking in the website of the Council to see the traffic state in real time or the bicycles available in the system in real time (not yet Open).
In terms of bicycle, this new mode exploded in the last decade. The last observatory of the mobility (currently being performed) show even higher figures for the bike, even 7-8%, being reduced the use of the PT even more.
Regarding bicycles, there are currently 20 points of the Bike Sharing System. One of the cheapest in Spain and even at European level, the fee is only 15 € per year. The system has been implemented with a view of promoting the inter-modality, as they are located in the main PT stops and main sites of interest (Hospital, City Centre).
It had a high use in the past being more than 200,000 uses in 2011. The use of the system has decreased down to 40-50,000 but the use of the bike in general has increased. It means that people have started to us their own bike.
It is especially constant the higher use of the bike in some areas as the City Centre and the University, as they are demanding more bike parking racks in order to hold the high number of the users.
Picture 3.1.2: The bike lane network, bicycle sharing system points and bike parking racks in Burgos
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Regarding car pooling or car sharing, there was an structure of car pooling but finally due to the fact of the new apps appearing it disappeared because of the lack of use.
Regarding pedestrian areas and accessibility, Burgos is really keen on promote walking.
Thanks to a cooperation with the ONCE (National Organization for blind people) more than 350 pavements were changed and adapted (zero level) in the zebra crossings.
Also it is important to remark that from the year 2005 the city has performed a pedestrianization process covering the city Centre, and currently with more than 2 million square meters, all around the city Centre and some streets nearby.
Picture 3.1.3: The bike lane network, bicycle sharing system points and bike parking racks in Burgos
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4 References
1. Mobility website and City Council website: www.aytoburgos.es http://www.aytoburgos.es/movilidad-y-transporte 2. Invest in Burgos website http://www.invertirenburgos.es/ 3. Economic data (consulted 20/11/2014) http://www.datosmacro.com/pib/espana 4. Socio Demographic data http://www.foro-ciudad.com/burgos/burgos/mensaje-9448492.html
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