Public transportation in Madrid

I am french, I have been using the metro in Paris for years, and I believe Metro in Madrid is very far better. I don't know very much metros in other cities (a little bit the one in London) but I would not be surprised if Metro of Madrid is the best in Europe.

It's very clean, you don't have mendigos (beggars ?) nor (too much) musicians with amplifiers screaming a song you don't want to hear - a good musician will not impose you his music. I appreciate that you can know how much time to wait the next train. It's not hot and overpopulated: in Paris, on the main line, you are sure to arrive stressed and with a ruined skirt to an appointment at 9:00. People does not push you. Escalators are working well - 90% unavailable on some lines in Paris. Very few incidents. I rarely take the metro late but I never felt insecure.

The only minus if I compare with Paris, not very important, is that metro of Paris is much more extended so you can go everywhere with just changing of line once, when you sometimes have to do it twice in Madrid. Also, the metro in Madrid open only at 6:00, so if you need to take a plane at 7:00 in Barajas, taxi is the only solution.

I never took a bus so I cannot talk about it.

Barajas (this is transport): you sometimes have to walk a lot to get to your gate, and you might have a lot of people waiting to cross the security check. But I appreciate that the security people are corteous and very professional - in other airports, you never know what they will quit you of your luggage because nobody really know the norms and everybody is acting 'I am the authority here so do what I say'.

Taxis are not bad in Madrid. Prices have been rocketing with the crisis, but they are still cheaper than n Paris - and don't tell me about London. Sure, sometimes you will meet one who will consolidate the reputation that they all try to cheat you making it longer passing by every street so they will charge you more, but I always wait them asking if I have a preferred way and when they see I can speak spanish and I know a little bit of Madrid, no problem. Most of them are polite and much times curious about a french in Madrid, so I have a lot of good chat with taxi drivers - like, you know, if you prefer Real or Barça. And most of them are always amazed when I say I prefer Madrid to Paris.

Which gives me a good idea of a thread.

Hi furisern!

Thanks a lot for this great post

Armand

Public Transportation in Madrid is fantastic, both metro/subway and bus networks work well, efficient, and practically the cheapest mode of public transportation in Europe. A single metro/bus ticket costs 1.50 Euros and a 10-trip ticket (used for either metro or bus) is 9.30 Euros. Cheap. Buses have gotten a lot better in recent years and are equipped with GPS devices so that you are notified as to how long it will be until your bus arrives at your given bus stop. Metro trains are faster than buses, of course, but can be a bit less comfortable as you have to walk to metro stations, sometimes go down/up a lot of escalators/stairs, full metro cars during peak hours, etcetera.

In general, both forms are very safe. They say you have to be careful of pickpockets on the metro, but nothing's ever happened to me in my 6 years here and 10 more years of visiting.

I use public transportation very often, although not daily. I thankfully have a bus stop right outside my door which takes me to downtown in about 20 minutes so that's nice. The nearest metro station is about a 10-15 minute walk away.

Best of luck and "enjoy" Madrid's public transportation!

Saludos, MadridMan @ http://MadridMan.com!

Metro in Madrid is has been pretty safe for decades, mostly due surveilliance cams & security guards.
I lived in Madrid for 3 years and I've never had any problem ever, not even using the Metro at 3:00am, 4:am in the morning.

Nevertheless as a general evolution/survival rule,, keeping an eye, on whom's nearby you, is always a must, wherever in the planet you are.

Hello kittycat1,

Thanks for your contribution.

I'm sure our members are appreciative of you sharing your experience using public transportation in Madrid. 

Feel free to share other personal insight or general advice by participating on recent threads on the Madrid forum.

Looking forward to more such posts on the forum 

Diksha
Team Expat.com

That's weird. The metro in Madrid finishes at around 1:30am and start again at 5:30am depending on the line. You sure you were on a metro at 3am? )

But yes I agree with you that the metro and the stations are very safe, as well as the city in general. There's a very heavy police presence especially in Centro which deters criminals to a great extend