Cártama connected towns too scattered for a scheduled line
Dispersed municipalities across inland Málaga, served by ridepooling with operator Grupo Avanza rather than routes that could never be frequent enough to matter.
- Setting
- Dispersed municipalities, 20.16 km²
- Service model
- On-demand transport
- Operator
- Grupo Avanza
- Live since
- October 2018
Results
Projected reduction against the old line, confirmed in simulation before launch.
Door to door across a 20.16 km² area of scattered settlements.
Carried across eleven separate areas of service.
The challenge
One hourly line for a town spread across eleven areas
Cártama is one of the largest municipalities in Málaga province: an old town, a newer district around the train station, and a scatter of outlying urbanisations. To reach some of them, the local bus had to go through the town centre first.
Cártama and the western Málaga neighbourhoods of Santa Rosalía and Maqueda were connected to the regional hospital by a single line, hourly, 7:30 to 15:30. Every trip called at every shelter, most of them empty. Demand was unpredictable enough that no timetable change could be made without cutting availability somewhere else.
Reaching El Sexto and the other outlying centres meant routing through the town centre first — distance riders did not need, on a bus running whether or not anyone was aboard.
What we deployed
The old line, converted into an on-demand service
- 0132 virtual stops
A stop network across 20.16 km² — riders pick pickup and drop-off from it.
- 02Four vehicles
Pooled in real time instead of one bus calling at every empty shelter.
- 03Hospital and rail links
The service doubles as a shuttle to the regional hospital and the Málaga CMT line.
- 04Eleven areas served
Outlying urbanisations that the old route could only reach via the town centre.
Simulated before a single vehicle moved
Shotl processed the origins and destinations of trips already being made on the old line. The simulation projected trip times falling by up to half while demand rose — the evidence the authority needed before converting the route.
How the simulation worksOn site
The app shows the live stop sequence — Doñana, Puente de Hierro, Estación Tren Cártama, Santa Rosalía. 
Pooled riders heading the same way — and a shuttle to the hospital and the Málaga CMT line. 
Drivers are called stop to stop — Los Campesinos, Maqueda, Marigüilla, Tres Esquinas.
Rafael DurbánDirector, Grupo Avanza“At Avanza, we always try to lead our sector when it comes to new technologies, digitalization, new ways of understanding transport. For us, on-demand transport has always been an objective that, in this case, has been achieved.”
“It started out as a pilot and worked so well that it’s now become part of the service.”
“Ridership is quite high and it’s a success, which is reflected in the opinion of the users and, of course, that of the Town Council, the Consortium, and everyone involved in the project.”
“It’s been a before and after for users in our municipality. The proximity, the ease of booking through the app, being able to request this on-demand bus.”
“Eleven areas of service, and it brought residents closer to the Málaga CMT line and the regional hospital too. The service has really improved residents’ ability to use public transport.”
“People in Cártama are delighted. In the transport consortium, which is accountable to the Regional Government of Andalucía, we are also promoting this type of on-demand transport.”
“A more affordable, cost-effective service has been implemented — more frequent and with lower CO₂ emissions, that works according to the number of passengers.”
Similar challenges
Running since 2018, and still running
Cártama began as a pilot and worked well enough to become part of the regular service. It is Shotl’s longest-running Spanish operation: launched in October 2018, still serving over 30,000 people on the west side of Málaga, with the consortium now promoting the model elsewhere.
What the consortium got is a cheaper service that runs more often and emits less, because it sizes itself to the number of passengers actually travelling. The conditions that made it work are common: several separate centres, a hospital or station everyone needs to reach, and a line whose stops are mostly empty most of the time.
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