How to get around Madrid during Pride 2017 without breaking a sweat
Everything you need to know about public transport, traffic restrictions, road closures and strikes
The Gay Pride celebrations in Madrid this year are particularly special: both the World Pride and EuroPride festivals are taking place there this week, turning the city into the world capital of the LGBTQ collective. Given the huge numbers of people expected for the celebrations, there will be a number of issues with traffic and public transport.
Road closures
Today, Wednesday, not even residents will be able to access the Plaza de Pedro Zerolo, in the Chueca neighborhood, which will be closed off from 6pm to midnight for the opening ceremony. From today onward, heavy vehicles will not be allowed in the city center while normal vehicles will not be able to park in the whole of the Centro neighborhood. Motorbikes and scooters will also be subject to the restrictions.
The area surrounded by Hortaleza, Augusto Figueroa, Barquillo and Gran Vía streets will be closed off to all traffic from June 28 to July 1, while on Sunday July 2, traffic will be restricted on Augusto Figueroa, Barquillo and Gran Vía streets.
Gran Vía will be closed on July 1 from 8am to 4pm, with an exception for residents, tourists that are staying in hotels there, buses, taxis and private-hire vehicles.
Mayor street, which runs into the central Puerta del Sol plaza, and Carrera de San Jerónimo, which runs off it, will also see restrictions to traffic from June 28 to July 1. Plaza de España, meanwhile, will be closed on June 29.
From 4pm onward on Saturday July 1, roads including Carrera de San Jerónimo, Plaza Cánovas del Castillo, Sevilla, Príncipe, Cruz, Ronda de Atocha, Paseo de las Delicias, Paseo del Prado, Paseo de Recoletos, Paseo de la Castellana, Génova, and Goya will be closed off to traffic. What’s more, Plaza de la Independencia, Alcalá, Alfonso XII, Serrano and O’Donnell streets will also see restrictions from 6pm onward from June 30 to July 2.
The traffic restrictions will be announced via the electronic billboards on the M-30 beltway.
Metro
Lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9A and 11 will all be running extra trains over the World Pride celebrations, especially on the night of July 1 to July 2 when the Madrid Metro will be running non-strop.
Train driver strike
A strike has been called by Metro Madrid drivers this weekend, but minimum services are planned. The stoppages are due to take place between June 28 and July 2. (See sidebar for more information.)
Buses
The city’s night buses, the Airport Express service and Line 200, which runs between Avenida de América and the airport, will all run extra services until July 2. From today, Wednesday, a further 25 lines will also be reinforced.
All of the following lines will be interrupted during World Pride due to traffic restrictions: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, 32, 34, 37, 44, 45, 46, 51, 52, 53, 59, 74, 75, 85, 86, 102, 133, 146, 147, 148, 150, C1, C2, E1, M1, M2, 203.
Bus services that depart from Plaza Mayor, Latina, Jacinto Benavente, Atocha and Tribunal will also see interruptions and route changes.
On the night of July 1, an extra 15 buses will be in service.
BiciMAD
The city’s public bike hire system, BiciMAD, will also be affected. From June 28 to July 2, hire points in Chueca, Puerta del Sol and Pedro Zerolo square will not be operative. On June 29 the hire point in Plaza de España will be closed, and the following day the Puerta del Sol point will not be in operation. On July 1 the hire point between Atocha and Colón will be deactivated.
Cercanías (suburban) trains
Trains in the city will be running with double their usual capacity in order to cope with the expected increase in volume.
Taxis
One of the taxi associations in Madrid has called a strike in the capital on June 29 and 30. The drivers are calling for more municipal officers to monitor the activity of private hire drivers. The stoppages are planned from 12am on June 29 to midnight on June 30.
English version by Simon Hunter.
Threat to all-night subway service
Plans for an all-night subway service on Saturday July, at the height of World Pride festivities, could be derailed after one of the seven unions representing Metro drivers lodged a formal complaint in court arguing being forced to work during the 24-hour service period constituted a serious disruption to their work conditions, and that they hadn’t been properly consulted by the operators of the Madrid Metro.
But Metro management says it sat down with unions on eight occasions to look at options for the extended service, adding that the Sindicato Libre union, which lodged the complaint, had refused to accept the compensation offered of a night-time bonus and an extra day’s rest for those who worked the shift in question.
Metro management also said it had initially hoped staff would voluntarily choose to work during the 24-hour period, but that only 80 of the 212 drivers needed had signed on to do so. Operators of the Spanish capital’s subway service said they had therefore assigned drivers to the shift beginning at 10pm on Saturday and ending at 6am on Sunday. They argued there was no serious disruption to workers’ schedules as the change only involved one night.
A spokesperson for Madrid’s transport department noted the formal complaint from the union Sindicato Libre came in the context of an ongoing industrial dispute about the status of Metro drivers and was an attempt to ramp up pressure in those negotiations “sabotaging one of Madrid’s most highly anticipated” events.
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