Madrid! Two FREE Zero Emissions Buses to Traverse the City

Madrid Map Showing the Routes of the Two Free Zero Emission Buses

There are Two Free Zero Emission Buses in Central Madrid!

Did you know you can cross the city of Madrid on a free bus? There are two of them and they are both zero-emission buses. If you need a break from walking but you don't want to pay for a taxi or Uber and you want to stay above ground and see more of the city, this might be a good option for you.

And the public buses in Madrid are just as easy to use as they are in any city. Give it a try!

The regular buses have a fare per person and you can use a the Multi card (purchased in the metro at a kiosk) or cash to pay your fare. But we digress... Back to the FREE buses...

Why Would You Need a Free Bus?

Let's say you just finished a tour of the Prado Museum and you really want to see the Templo de Debod across town (we wrote about this Egyptian temple in a previous article). It's a half hour walk and you've been on your feet all day. Well, near the Prado and the Royal Botanic Garden there's a stop for one of these buses and it's about a 23-minute ride. They run frequently. So, even if you just missed one, you can board the next one and still get there in the same amount of time it would have taken to walk. And you'll probably even get a seat since this is just the second stop from the bus's origin at the Atocha train station. To learn more about these two free bus lines, read on.

Bus 001

The first zero-emission line from Madrid's Municipal Transport Company (EMT), known as line 001, traverses the Centro district, connecting Atocha RENFE to Moncloa. This line, which is free for passengers, is a key component of the Madrid 360 Environmental Sustainability Strategy.

Bus 001 is Blue and Looks Like This

The 001 bus operates every seven or eight minutes, starting at 7 a.m. and running until 11:30 p.m. at Moncloa and 11 p.m. at Atocha. From the Atocha interchange (stop number 5710), it makes 17 stops along key locations including Paseo de Infanta Isabel, Paseo del Prado, Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo, Plaza de Cibeles, Calle Alcalá, Gran Vía, Calle Princesa, and Plaza de Moncloa, terminating at Calle Arcipreste de Hita in Moncloa (If you haven't spent much time in Madrid, this might be all gibberish to you. We get it! Just look at the map/cover photo of this post. For the most part this and bus 002 will get you within a short walk of most places in the tourist center of the city. In the reverse direction, the bus also makes 15 intermediate stops. In the map above, the red and yellow lines represent the journeys of the 001 bus and the black dots are the associated bus stops.

Bus 002

The second zero-emission line 002, covers other parts of the Centro district, from Argüelles to Puerta de Toledo, navigating through various streets since no single road can accommodate the entire route. It's a minibus because it needs to get into the more narrow streets. They've got you covered!

Bus 002 is Blue and Looks Like This

The line 002 service, operated by minibuses, runs from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Argüelles and until 8:45 p.m. in Puerta de Toledo, with buses arriving approximately every ten minutes. The Puerta de Toledo terminus is at stop number 80, near the Pedro Salinas Public Library, while the Argüelles terminus is located at the end of the M2 line on Alberto Aguilera Street. There are 21 intermediate stops from Puerta de Toledo and 20 in the opposite direction. The green and blue lines in the map above represent this bus line, with the yellow dots representing the stops.

How Can You be Sure if One of these Buses is for You?

If you use Google Maps on your phone and put in your destination, with the public transportation mode selected, scroll down and you might see bus 001 or 002 as one of the options. And if you happen to be near one of the bus stops, it might be one of the quickest options. Once you select the suggested route, you'll see all the stops along the mapped route. So you can even count the number of stops if you wish. For example, let's say you're in the Plaza de Canalejas and you want to try the legendary tapas bar Bodega La Ardosa in the Malasaña neighborhood. Well, you're in luck because there's a 002 stop in Canalejas and another one in the Plaza de San Idelfonso, just steps away from your destination. You could walk and arrive in 15 minutes or you could take the bus and get there several minutes sooner.

In short, we think taking the public buses in Madrid is easy and with these free, electric buses, you can get across town for free and still see the city life unfolding around you.

Did you find the info you were looking for? What questions do you have about Madrid?