Transport in Murcia

1. Tips and advice for living in or travelling around Murcia
2. Managing your money in Murcia
3. How to get to Murcia
4. Neighbourhoods in Murcia
5. Accommodation in Murcia
6. Food and restaurants in Murcia
7. Nights out in Murcia
8. Transport in Murcia
9. What to see and do in Murcia
10. Trips and days out in Murcia
11. Parties and festivals in Murcia
12. What are you looking for in Murcia?
13. Visiting Murcia for 2 days

Urban transport

Tram

The tram is the best mode of transport you will find in Murcia to help you get around the city. It connects all of the faculties at Espinardo to the city centre and to the Thader and Nueva Condomina shopping centres.

Tram stops are spread out one after the other along the entire journey, and they usually come every 10 minutes unless it's August as they then come by every 15 minutes. The facilities are kept in good condition and, just in case you want to take the tram more than once, there are travel passes that you can get at the tram stop; If you add money to them and pay that way, your trips will be much cheaper.

There are 2 trams, each going in the opposite direction to the other, and they travel back and forth between the Estadio Nueva Condomina and the universities.

During the week, the first tram that leaves the Estadio Nueva Condomina (towards the universities) is at 6:51 in the morning, whilst the first tram going the opposite way leaves at 7:05. From then onward, a tram leaves every ten minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes at the weekend.

But if you're one of those people who likes to do everything to the minute time-wise, then download the Tranvía de Murcia app on your phone. With this app, you'll be able to see how many minutes away the next tram that you want to take is, and also figure out the amount of time that the journey will take you in total. As well as this, by using the app, you will never be late anywhere and if you are, you can just blame the tram.

Bus

If you think a combination of buses would work best for you, you will find several information points across the city where you can find the right bus tickets that require some sort of additional documentation (see offers and discounts).

There are two types of bus service in; the urban ones that you will recognise due to their bright red colour, and then the intercity ones that are yellow and take you to whichever district you need to be at. But as you would expect, the price for this bus is more expensive than the urban one is (€1,85 for a regular ticket).

At each stop, you can see the number of each bus line appear as it passes by alongside the corresponding timetable, but if that's still not clear enough for you, we would suggest that you download one of the two apps for buses in Murcia, (LAT if you want to look up intercity buses and TMurciaBus if you want to know more about the urban lines). They will help you to know which bus to take and where to according to your location and your destination, and they will even show you when the next bus that suits you will be getting there. It's all on there!

Bicycle

Both the tram and buses have fixed timetables that might not fit around your needs; there's no night time schedule for example. If that's the case for you, don't worry because there is an alternative that we all have access to; bicycles (which you will recognise straight away as they are bright red and have the MuyBici logo on them). For just €40 a year (you can pay weekly, monthly or annually, depending on your preference), you can use one of these bikes whenever you like, wherever you like because they are available 24 hours a day.

Parking points are spread out across the city, and all you have to do is sign up (which you can do online or at a MuyBici kiosk point), and pay the rate, which varies depending on which service you want to use. If you need to use a bike on a specific day, all you have to do is pay €3. Paying weekly will cost you €10 each week, whilst paying monthly will be only €18 and the yearly option costs €40.

MuyBici is really useful: if you want to do a bit of exercise and also look after the environment, this is the best option for you. Also, you will avoid the peak traffic in the city centre and you will be able to make more plans than ever before, as you won't have to rely on any timetables.

Another bonus point is that if you're a student at the University of Murcia, you can receive a discount of 25%.

Intercity transport

Bus

Murcia isn't just limited to the city center, as it has a large number of districts such as Espinardo, Los Dolores, Patiño, La Alberca, etc. and Murcia bus services link all these districts with the rest of the city so that nobody is isolated and mobility is facilitated for all citizens, whilst also promoting public transport to reduce pollution. These buses are a little more expensive than the central buses and they stand out due to their peculiar yellow colour (the oldest ones are white with an orange roof).

In general, a single ticket without discounts on the inner-city bus, will cost you €1.85.

As well as this, you can look for trips to the Estación de Autobuses de Murcia (Murcia Bus Station) at Calle Navarro, at the best prices, as there is a bus company called ALSA which has amazing deals. Look out for the bargains they have on offer and take advantage of your opportunity to see more of the world!

Train

If you're looking for an easy way to travel to a few of the main cities of this country, closer cities for example, the trains that go through the Murcia del Carmen Station will work for you. With daily departures to Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid, you will have numerous options available for places to go to to see the most touristic spots in Spain in just a couple of hours. If you want to get to know the Region of Murcia a little better, you can always take advantage of the commuter trains that leave every hour and go to Alicante, Lorca and Águilas.

The Murcia Train Station is located in the barrio del Carmen (Plaza de la Industria, s/n) and only a 20 minute walk away from the centre. Equally, you can catch one of the buses that travel there too (lines 9, 39 and 44) from the bus stops at the entrance to the station.

Plane

• Alicante-Elche Airport

Without a doubt, this is the busiest airport in the South of Spain, and it is located just 70km from Murcia centre in the neighbouring Region of the Valencian Community. Being one of the busiest airports in terms of air traffic in both Spain and in Europe, you are bound to find a flight straight there from your home city, whether it's direct or with stops at Madrid-Barajas or Barcelona-El Prat. There are 119 destinations to travel to, most of them can be reached using the low cost airline, Ryanair, whose agreement with Erasmus Student Network gives you access to a few special discounts. Therefore, as you can't say no to such low prices, Alicante-Elche Airport will become your new home; it's the ideal departure point for heading off to see the world and getting to know the rest of the continent.

• Murcia Region International Airport (Aeropuerto de Corvera)

Since 2019, the Region of Murcia has had other means of getting around Europe, thanks to the long-awaited opening of the Murcia Region International Airport, also known as Corvera Airport. This airport was designed to replace the Murcia-San Javier airport, transferring all the operations of the latter to the new airport. It started with flights to just the main English cities, but now it has flights to your favourite countries at prices that you could only dream of.

Vouchers and discounts

Tram vouchers in Murcia

• Unibono General

This card only works for the trams in Murcia and it is available to anyone who's going to live in Murcia for a long time, without having to be a student. The Unibono General is a personal and non-transferable card, that is available to everybody and is valid in zones 1 and 2 of the city map (at all stops there is a map where you can see both zones and how far they go).

It's ideal for people who will need to use public transport on a daily basis, whether it's to get to work, to get to class, or to simply get around the city, as for just €30,60 you have unlimited travel for 30 days.

To sign up for this card, you'll need to head to Murcia tram office, which is located at the "La Ladera" tram stop; all you need is a recent photo and your approved ID.

• Unibono Estudiante TDM (Student tram pass)

This is available only to students who study at either the Murcia University (UM) or the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM); there are two ways to top it up, so you can save as much as possible depending on your needs. If you have to attend classes on a daily basis, Monday to Friday, your best bet would be to go for the monthly option which is €20,40 for the 30 days in which you can travel an unlimited amount of times.

On the other hand, if you don't need to get the tram every day, the best thing to do would be to get the Campus voucher (Bono Campus), with which you can make up to 32 trips over the space of one year for just €15.

UM students can sign up for this voucher here, whilst UCAM students will have to go to the Murcia tram office at the "La Ladera" stop that we mentioned before.

Tram and bus travel cards

• Bono Murcia Tricolor

This is the simplest offer available, for those who use the tram, the city bus and the district buses across the whole map of Murcia. It can be easily purchased at the vending machines that are found at any stop across the network, for an initial price of €5 and €1 for the cardboard card that will then be rechargeable until it is no longer usable.

The simplicity of recharging and obtaining this card makes it the best option for both individuals and groups; it only has to be validated once for each traveller and is great for those who do not intend to travel regularly by public transport.

• Unibono Estudiante Combinado (Combined student card)

Just like the last one we mentioned, this Combined Student card is a wallet card with a balance that you can just keep adding to, but it is designed only for students of UM and UCAM, offering a reduced rate of €0.50 less per trip. With this card, you can travel by tram, city bus or inter-city bus and it can be recharged throughout the year.

To sign up for it, you will have to head to one of the following customer service points: the Mucia tram office at La Ladera; the Transport Office in the Abenarabi Building of the Murcia City Council; the Murcia Transport office in Plaza Camachos; or, the LATBUS information point on Avenida de La Libertad.

Bonobús

There are many bus lines that run through the city in different directions at different times throughout the day. The price you have to pay will vary depending on which bus you choose, whether it's the (city bus or the intercity bus). Whichever bus number you take, there is a card that you can get which will allow you to save money on each trip that you take.

If they have any type of additional discount such as Special or General Large Family discount, student discount or retiree discount, special prices or rates are established on these cards, so the necessary documentation would have to be taken to the corresponding office for the issuance of the discount card.

Inside the buses, you will find information leaflets that have all of the information you will need inside them.

Loyalty programmes

When you're going to live somewhere else for a period of time, travel is always at the top of the list of things to prepare for before you go. However, being a student with a limited budget, it's important that you save money wherever possible. Therefore, the following loyalty programmes could work really well for you when it comes to organising your trips and days out from Murcia:

• +Renfe

If you tend to travel by train, you need to be aware that the best train company in Spain, Renfe, offers a free loyalty program which is designed to reward customers who frequently travel using their railway services. With this travel programme that +Renfe offer, you gain €0.15 worth of points for every €1 that you spend on train tickets. Once you have saved up a certain amount of points, you can trade them in, not only for other train tickets (so free trips), but also for offers that they promote from their partner companies. Depending on your annual ticket usage, you will have access to better promotions and discounts by owning one of the +Renfe cards. To sign up, click here.

• ALSAPlus+

To get the most out of the advantages that the ALSA bus company offers, you can join the ALSA+ community here and start earning points now. It is a totally free service, in which you accumulate points every time you pay for something, and then you can exchange the point for tickets and any other future trips that you might have in mind!

So that you have some sort of idea how it works, for every €5 you spend, you get 10 points for your account. Then, for every €10 you spend on closed round-trip tickets, Premium or Supra class tickets, on online purchases, through the official app or through the self-service machines (and when doing so 7 days or more ahead of time), you will receive 5 extra points to exchange for more trips!

• Go on to What to see and do in Murcia
• Go back to Nights out in Murcia

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