Estepona promises to crack down on buses to Marbella after passengers rage at no-shows and drivers who don’t even stop

ESTEPONA town hall has vowed to tighten controls on its local bus service following a barrage of complaints about operator Avanza from furious passengers across the Costa del Sol.

The council has bumped up the public transport budget to nearly €700,000 and pledged to beef up monitoring to ensure buses stick to their timetables.

Frustrated commuters have taken to social media to slam the service, with one user describing it as ‘a disgrace’ after children were left stranded at a bus station whilst travelling to Estepona.

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“What a shame how Avanza treats its users… many kids heading to Estepona were left stranded at the bus station,” one parent fumed online.

Another passenger blasted the service as ‘terrible’, whilst a regular commuter declared the line ‘a disaster’ and said buses frequently fail to turn up at all.

One particularly angry traveller complained that two scheduled buses simply didn’t stop, leaving commuters in the lurch.

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“This is disgraceful: two have gone past without service, one that said it was full…” they wrote.

Under the renewed one-year concession with Avanza, worth €697,634, the town hall says it will impose stricter oversight to guarantee buses run on schedule and actually stop for waiting passengers.

As part of the shake-up, larger vehicles with more seats will replace some existing buses on certain routes in the coming weeks.

The introduction of bigger buses aims to tackle capacity issues on busier routes, with the council promising the upgraded vehicles will begin operating within weeks.

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Social media complaints have also highlighted problems affecting passengers travelling between Marbella, Estepona and Malaga airport, with users describing the service as getting ‘worse and worse’.

One traveller even reported losing belongings on an Avanza bus travelling from Malaga airport to Marbella.

The enhanced punctuality controls will be implemented immediately under the new contract terms, as Estepona authorities attempt to restore confidence in a service that connects the town centre with residential areas and urbanisations stretching along the western Costa del Sol.

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