Local Transportation

When I learned about the public transportation here in Seville and in Spain and Europe in general, I was so amazed. It is so different than public transportation in the United States. The first week I arrived in Seville I actually did not use the public transportation much because I did not know how to and what card to buy for the metro, tram, or bus. I also did not know my way around the city yet so I did a lot of walking to familiarize myself with it. Seville is an extremely walkable city and since I live in a good location, it did not take too long to walk to shops, restaurants, and grocery stores. In addition to walking, my best friend who came to Spain with me and I rented electric scooters to ride around the city with. These electric scooters are from the brand VOI and are parked in outside stations all around Seville for the public to use. All I had to do was download the app and then I unlocked the VOI scooter by scanning a barcode on it. The scooters were fun to ride for the first few weeks but they are 40 cents per minute so I stopped riding them so often and utilized my other transportation options. After school started and I met more Spanish people and other exchange students I began to use the metro and tram more often. In fact, in order to get to my university here I have to take the metro because it located on the outside of town. My friend helped me by taking me to a tobacco shop to buy a green card that I can use to reload money on to in order to get around. It can be used for the metro, tram, and buses. It is pretty inexpensive to use as well. The metro costs 41 cents every trip and the tram costs 38 cents. I am not familiar with how much the buses cost because I usually do not take them.

Furthermore, about half way through through my semester abroad I signed up for a biking membership that cost about 30 euros for a whole year, which is very inexpensive! Here in Seville there are bikes called Sevicii (si-vee-see) that are locked into automatic bike locks all around the city, similar to how VOI scooters are. Usually the scooters and bikes can be found next to each other. I have an app on my phone that I use to find the stations and then unlock the bikes. All of my close friends and I all have this service, so usually whenever we need to get somewhere together such as a bus or train station or to a restaurant we bike together. Not only is biking to destinations around the city a good way to get some daily exercise, but it is also sustainable.

The public transportation outside of Seville is also amazing. When I have gone on trips to nearby cities or to Portugal (because Portugal borders Spain), all I had to do was take a bus or train and I could get there within hours. It is inexpensive and easy to book these rides. It is also not difficult to book plane flights. Funny story, I actually missed my flight to Ibiza the other week but I was able to go on my phone and book another flight for that same day. I made it there just a couple hours after my friends who had gotten on the earlier flight.

Everything is in close proximity with each other so I think that is one reason why transportation is so easy and inexpensive here. I wish America was more less spread out and more similar to Europe.

Oh, and I also want to mention that masks were still required on all public transportation for the first month or so that I was in Seville! After a month they revoked the law and now everyone can ride the metro or bus without a mask. Most people don't wear masks but I do usually see a couple people still wearing them.