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Chocolate bars, sandwiches, soft drinks, juices ... and also hydroalcoholic masks and gels. To the snack machines of the Madrid Metro, the coronavirus health crisis has brought new vending neighbors with products for the safety of its passengers in the de-escalation process. The Community of Madrid has presented this Sunday a new purchase method at the Moncloa station for travelers who will see how this Monday with the arrival of phase 1, both the suburban and the EMT buses recover 90% of their frequency.

The vice president, Ignacio Aguado, and the Minister of Transport, Ángel Garrido, today inaugurated the first vending machine for the purchase of hydroalcoholic masks and gels in the suburban area, which will be extended to more than a dozen stations in the coming days: New Ministries, Príncipe Pío, Plaza de España, Argüelles, Diego de León, Atocha-Renfe, Chamartín, Sainz de Baranda and Colombia. They can be purchased for three euros reusable and washable masks, which will have a useful life of 10 uses, and for two euros cans of 100 milliliters of hydrogel

Aguado has framed this new measure in the intention of the regional government to "continue to strengthen the security of citizens" who travel in the suburban. For this, Metro will also have approximately two hundred capacity controllers in 26 stations with the largest influx in the capital, according to Ángel Garrido and reported by the Efe Agency, which will join the blockade of the entrance turnstiles and the signaling in the interior of trains.

"Public transport is safe, let's not stigmatize it because it will be essential in de-escalation." That was last Friday the position that the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and his team have set for the mobility of the de-escalation process that this Monday enters phase 1 in the capital. An advance that will make both the metro and municipal buses recover 90% of their frequency at peak times with the start of this week.

According to the data of the Ministry of Transport of the Community of Madrid, this service can only serve 45% of travelers prior to Covid in this de-escalation process. A number of travelers that during the past week were 82% lower, going from the approximately 2.3 million daily users to a figure close to 400,000 and that with the arrival of phase 1 will maintain its early closure at 00.00 hours and It will expand the frequency of trains to 90% in the rush hours of the morning -06.30 to 09.30 hours- and from noon -14 to 16 hours-.

That same percentage of its fleet is the one that will also enable the Municipal Transport Company (EMT) for its buses starting this Monday. "Public transport is safe, let's not stigmatize it because it will be essential in the de-escalation," recalled last Friday the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, highlighting the need for this service from the City Council of the capital.

Under the name Travel safely by bus , the Consistory's Environment and Mobility Area has also launched an audiovisual campaign to show citizens the safety measures that the EMT has implemented in their vehicles in this process towards the new normality and to inform that 90% of the fleet will be available again starting this Monday .

This increase in vehicles, coinciding with the entry of the capital in phase 1, is due to the fact that the influx of municipal buses has grown up to 16% compared to the previous week despite the fact that the data is still very far from the time before the coronavirus crisis ..

Two weeks ago, the department headed by Borja Carabante already installed stickers on the seats to guarantee seating on buses, which must be left empty on EMT vehicles so that safety distances are maintained. A system that has been established in the form of a zig zag and that also affects the seat immediately behind the driver .

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  • Madrid
  • Madrid's Underground
  • José Luis Martínez-Almeida
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
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