'The platform is like death' - public transport users suffer in heat

The high summer temperatures are affecting public transport users who, despite having air conditioning inside most trains, buses, and metros, cannot escape the heat in waiting areas and platforms, where it is difficult to maintain pleasant temperatures.

Some users appreciate that trains and buses have air conditioning to travel more comfortably, but they warn that the waiting areas can be tough in the summer.

Public transport promotion associations criticize that the weather conditions are driving some users away.

Joan admits that “sometimes I would walk up and down the metro because it is cooler inside.”

For this reason, during the hottest months, he goes to work by public transport despite living close to his office. “I do it to avoid the street. Otherwise, I usually walk to work.”

The problem, however, is when he reaches the platform, and on the way through the underground corridors and stairs to the outside, where there is little ventilation.

Many users choose to cool themselves with traditional fans, while others use small electric fans, which have become popular in recent years.

To beat the heat, Verónica leaves the house “with wet hair” and tries to get to work “as quickly as possible,” where the air conditioning is on. “But then I get back on the subway and it’s the same thing again,” she admits.

Traveling by public transport can be especially difficult for vulnerable people, including the elderly. Juana explains that she feels “fatigue" and "suffocation” when she has to take the metro and the bus during the hottest hours of the day during summer.

That’s why she adjusts her schedules and tries to only go out in the morning and evening. “I combine it like that,” she says. “Because at two or three o’clock it’s impossible to go out.”

The bus: slower, but cooler

For bus users, the problem of heat is not as acute. The air conditioning works inside the vehicles and, although the wait is usually longer than on the subway, you can always find a space in the shade while the bus arrives.

“I’m not at the bus stop, I’m here where the cool air is,” explains Núria, who sits a few meters from the bus shelter. “Better than on the metro platform, for sure,” she adds.

Julieta also acknowledges that “it’s not hot” inside the bus, but points out that the wait can be complicated if the bus doesn’t arrive at the scheduled time. “Sometimes, it has to leave in an hour and you might have to wait 20 minutes at the bus stop and you arrive at your destination exhausted,” she explains. “But you accept it, you have to accept it.”

Impact on public transport use

The vice-president of the Association for the Promotion of Public Transport (PTP), Adrià Ramírez, says that public transport is one of the best tools to combat the climate emergency, but that it must adapt to the new conditions of climate change that “we already have.”

Ramírez believes that in recent years “temperature has stopped being a question of comfort and has become practically a question of accessibility” and warns that, above certain temperature thresholds, certain people cannot make journeys they had planned, such as the elderly or people with certain illnesses.

Likewise, Ramírez says that, many times, the “thermal shock” that occurs between air-conditioned trains and metros compared to heated platforms slows down people’s mobility, who often prefer other longer alternatives or avoid making the journey due to the “inconvenience” of this uncomfortable contrast.