SITVA

SITVA (Sistema Integrado de Transporte del Valle de Aburrá in Spanish or Aburrá Valley Integrated Transport System) is the public transportation system of Medellín and its metropolitan area. It allows people from the Metropolitan Area of Medellín to move across the ten Aburrá Valley municipalities using different transport modes. It uses integrated fares and a single payment card (Cívica card).

SITVA
Train near Berrío Park station
Overview
Owner	Department of Antioquia, Medellín City
Area served	Aburrá Valley
Locale	Medellín Metropolitan Area, Antioquia, Colombia
Transit type	Rapid transit Cable car Translohr Bus rapid transit Bicycle-sharing system
Number of lines	12[1]
Line number	(Níquia-La Estrella) (San Antonio-San Javier) (Acevedo-Santo Domingo) (San Javier-La Aurora) (Santo Domingo-Arví) (Oriente-Villa Sierra) (Miraflores-Trece de Noviembre) (Acevedo-El Progreso) (U. de M.-Parque Aranjuez/Ferrocarril Ave.) (U. de M.-Parque Aranjuez/Oriental Ave.) (South Corridor) (under construction) (San Antonio-Oriente) (Caribe-La Palma)
Number of stations	65 stations 48 stops[2]
Daily ridership	0.53 million (weekday 2020)[3]
Annual ridership	328 million (2021)[4]
Website	SITVA
Operation
Number of vehicles	80 trains (3 cars per train) 498 gondolas 31 articulated buses (30 natural gas + 1 electric) 111 feeding buses (47 natural gas + 64 electric) 12 Translohr[2]
Technical
System length	85.12 km (52.9 mi)[2]
System map SITVA map

Components

SITVA includes the Medellín Metro, currently comprising two lines: Line A, which is 25.8 kilometres (16.0 mi) long and serves 21 stations, and Line B, which is 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) long and serves 6 stations (plus San Antonio station, the transfer station with Line A). There is also a tram line: Line T (Ayacucho Tram).^[2][1]

Additionally, the aerial cable car system, Metrocable, which supplements the metro system, comprises six lines: Line J with 3 stations (plus one transfer station with Metro Line B),^[1][2] Line K with 3 stations (plus one transfer station with Metro Line A and one with Line L),^[2][1] Line L with one station (plus one transfer station with Line K), Line H with two stations (plus one transfer station with Line T), Line M with two stations (plus one transfer station with Line T) and Line P with 3 stations (plus one transfer station with Metro Line A).^[1] SITVA also integrates a bus rapid transit system (Metroplús [es]), a minibus network called Sistema Integrado de Transporte (SIT) in Spanish and a bicycle-sharing system (EnCicla).

As of 2022, there are 27 metro stations, 15 Metrocable stations, 3 tramway stations (+ 6 tram stops), 20 BRT stations (+ 42 feeding bus stops) in the SITVA network, all listed in the following table; for a total of 65 stations and 48 stops. Transfer stations are in bold, and the transfer station between metro lines A and B is shown in bold-italic:

Name	Stations	Date of opening	Fleet	Commercial speed	Capacity (per vehicle)	Capacity (passengers/h-direction)	Travel time one journey	Top frequency (rush hour)
Metro services
Line A North to South 25.8 km (16.0 mi)[2] 21 stations[1]	Niquía Bello Madera Acevedo Tricentenario Caribe University Hospital Prado Berrío Park San Antonio Alpujarra Exposiciones Industriales Poblado Aguacatala Ayurá Envigado Itagüí Sabaneta La Estrella	30 November 1995	80 three-car trains; for a total of 240 cars	40 km/h (25 mph); max. speed 80 km/h (50 mph)	300 users per car	41,480	42 minutes	3 minutes
Line B Center to West 5.5 km (3.4 mi)[2] 7 stations[1]	San Antonio Cisneros Suramericana Estadio Floresta Santa Lucía San Javier	29 February 1996				16,231	10.5 minutes	3:50 minutes
Metrocable services
Line K North to Northeast 2.07 km (1.29 mi)[2] 4 stations[1]	Acevedo Andalucía Popular Santo Domingo Savio	7 August 2004	93 gondolas	18 km/h (11 mph)	8 users sitting, 2 standing; for a total of 10 users per gondola	3,000	9 minutes	0:12 minutes
Line J West to North 2.7 km (1.7 mi)[2] 4 stations[1]	San Javier Juan XXIII Vallejuelos La Aurora	3 March 2008	119 gondolas				12 minutes
Line L Northeast to far Northeast 4.8 km (3.0 mi)[2] 2 stations[1]	Santo Domingo Savio Arví	9 February 2010	55 gondolas			1,200	15 minutes	0:14 minutes
Line H East to far Northeast 1.4 km (0.87 mi)[2] 3 stations[1]	Oriente Las Torres Villa Sierra	17 December 2016	44 gondolas			1,800	5 minutes	0:13 minutes
Line M East to Northeast 1.05 km (0.65 mi)[2] 3 stations[1]	Miraflores El Pinal Trece de Noviembre	28 February 2019	49 gondolas			2,500	4 minutes	0:09 minutes
Line P West to Northwest 2.7 km (1.7 mi)[2] 3 stations[1]	Acevedo SENA Doce de Octubre El Progreso	10 June 2021	138 gondolas	19 km/h (12 mph)	10 users sitting, 2 standing; for a total of 12 users per gondola	4,000	10 minutes	0:11 minutes
BRT services
Line 1 West to Northeast 12.5 km (7.8 mi)[2] 20 stations[1]	U. de M. Los Alpes La Palma Parque Belén Rosales Fátima Nutibara Industriales Plaza Mayor Cisneros Minorista Chagualo U. de A. Hospital Palos Verdes Gardel Manrique Las Esmeraldas Berlín Parque Aranjuez	22 December 2011	30 gas working buses, 1 fully electric bus; for a total of 31 articulated buses	16 km/h (9.9 mph); max. speed 60 km/h (37 mph)	154 users per bus	3,270	45 minutes	2:45 minutes
Line 3 Southwest/Southeast	South Corridor	Under development
Feeding bus services
Line 2 West to Northeast 13.5 km (8.4 mi)[2] 15 stations + 8 stops[1]	U. de M. (station) Los Alpes (station) La Palma (station) Parque Belén (station) Rosales (station) Fátima (station) Nutibara (station) Industriales (station) Barrio Colombia San Diego Barrio Colón San José La Playa Catedral Metropolitana Palos Verdes (station) Gardel (station) Manrique (station) Las Esmeraldas (station) Berlín (station) Parque Aranjuez (station)	22 April 2013	47 gas feeding buses	13 km/h (8.1 mph); max. speed 60 km/h (37 mph)	90 users per bus	1,417	52 minutes	4:17 minutes
Line O North to South 9 km (5.6 mi)[2] 27 stops[1]	Caribe Floresta La Palma	2 December 2019	64 electric buses	13 km/h (8.1 mph); max. speed 60 km/h (37 mph)	80 users per bus	800	45 minutes	6:00 minutes
Tram services
Line T Center to East 4.2 km (2.6 mi)[2] 3 stations + 6 stops[1]	San Antonio (station) San José Pabellón del Agua Bicentenario Buenos Aires Miraflores (station) Loyola Alejandro Echavarría Oriente (station)	31 March 2016	12 tramway vehicles	16 km/h (9.9 mph); max. speed 70 km/h (43 mph)	300 users per tram	3,807	19 minutes	4:44 minutes
Total
	65 stations (48 stops)	Oldest: 30 November 1995 Newest: 6 June 2021	240 cars 498 gondolas 31 articulated buses 111 feeding buses 12 tramway	Fastest: max. speed 80 km/h (50 mph) Slowest: 13 km/h (8.1 mph)	Most capacity: 300 users per car/tram Least capacity: 10 users per gondola	82,502	Fastest journey: 4 minutes Slowest journey: 52 minutes	Least wait time: 0:09 minutes Most wait time: 6:00 minutes

Expansions

Metrocable

Line H of the Metrocable

On 7 August 2004,^[5] the city inaugurated a new line known as "Metro Cable" (Line K). The line starts in the Acevedo Station and goes to the up hill district of Santo Domingo Savio.^[6] This important addition integrated new additions to the city that since the 1960s that previously were not considered part of the "real city".

Line K (Metrocable) of the Metro de Medellín.

On 3 March 2008,^[5] a second "Metro Cable" line (Line J) was inaugurated. The line starts in the San Javier Station and goes through Juan XXIII and Vallejuelos to the La Aurora district.^[6] This new line benefits approximately 150,000 new users.

A new Metrocable line (line L) was inaugurated in 2009^[5] with a transfer station at Santo Domingo Savio Station. This line continues further uphill to El Tambo^[6] in Arví park near Guarne. The reason for constructing this line is because the city wants to promote tourism in the rural area near Lake Guarne. It takes 14 minutes to ascend to El Tambo and there are no intermediate stations.

On June 10, 2022 there was a new "Metro Cable" line (Line P). The line starts from the Acevedo station and goes all the way to the El Progreso station, in the northwest. It takes approximately 10 minutes to go through all the stations, and it benefits 200,000 people.

Line A extension

Line A was expanded from Itagüí to La Estrella, in the south of the metropolitan area. A new intermediate station, Sabaneta, built near 67th South Street, was opened on 5 August 2012^[7] and the final station, La Estrella, was built near 77th South Street and opened on 17 September 2012.^[8]

Train line

In February 2020 it was announced that Medellín will reactivate the train line between Bello and Caldas.^[9]

References

1. "Metro map" (pdf). Medellín Metro. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
2. "Metro facts" (jpg). Medellín Metro. 16 Jun 2021.
3. "Memoria de Sostenibilidad 2020". p. 28.
4. "Boletín Técnico Encuesta de Transporte Urbano de Pasajeros (ETUP) IV trimestre de 2021". p. 14.
5. "Historia" [History] (in Spanish). Metro de Medellín. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
6. "Metrocable - Metrocable Lines". Metro de Medellín. 15 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
7. "ESTE DOMINGO 5 DE AGOSTO INICIA LA OPERACIÓN COMERCIAL HASTA LA NUEVA ESTACIÓN SABANETA" (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 January 2013.
8. "ESTE LUNES 17 DE SEPTIEMBRE EL METRO INAUGURARÁ LA EXTENSIÓN AL SUR" (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 January 2013.
9. El Colombiano. "Antioquia definió el primer tramo para reactivar su ferrocarril". Retrieved 22 February 2020.