Two thirds of Costa del Sol residents would ditch their car if they could in indictment of Malaga’s lack of public transport

NEARLY 70% of respondents in Malaga province said that they would ditch their cars and use public transport if they could, according this year’s edition of Barometro de la Provincia de Malaga.

Specifically, 68.3% of the Malaga Province population said they would leave the car at home and travel by train or bus if the options are available. 

Currently, 64% of respondents have indicated that they use their private vehicle to get to work. 

The regions where most commuters would leave their car in their driveway are Sierra de las Nieves (75%), Guadalteba (75%) and Valle del Guadalhorce (74.3%).

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The people less likely to take public transport live in Serrania de Ronda, Antequera and Axarquia, with percentages averaging around 66%.

As possible solutions to increase the range of public transport in the province, many people point to the extension of the Cercanias train line to Algeciras.

Many people also want the government to get rid of the tolls on the AP-7 motorway, an expansion in bus service, an extension of the A-7 motorway from Velez-Malaga to El Palo and  the widening of the A-357 road between Malaga and Campillos. 

This is according to a survey carried out by the Madeca Foundation of the Malaga Provincial Council with a sample of 2,400 telephone interviews with adults from municipalities throughout Malaga Province.

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When the interviews were carried out – between December 2024 and January 2025 – the A-397 road between San Pedro and Ronda wasn’t closed yet. 

The president of the Provincial Council, Francisco Salado, did not lose sight of the fact that ‘mobility and public transport is the fourth problem in the province, after housing, unemployment and health’.

In terms of mobility, the president said that “the entire metropolitan area of Malaga is in a moment of exceptional growth, and it’s essential to articulate and foresee the needs of the province, which in a few years will exceed two million inhabitants and will become the most populous in Andalusia”.