Autocars Calella, official mobility partner of the Catalan Hockey Federation

Autocars Calella has signed a partnership agreement with the Catalan Hockey Federation under which the mobility company has become the official partner of this sports federation, offering its coach service to all the hockey clubs in Catalonia throughout the season.

At the signing ceremony, which took place recently in Sant Cugat del Vallés with the Chairman of the Catalan Hockey Federation, Xavier Adell Salvatella, and the Managing Director of Moventis, Miquel Martí Pierre, the two executives highlighted their commitment and drive to encouraging the practice of sport in these exceptional times.

The agreement reaffirms the position achieved by the Moventis Group as a benchmark in group mobility given its proven reliability in meeting all safety, hygiene and control protocols. This federation now joins all the other sports entities that also trust in the services provided by mobility companies of this group, which include Girona FC, CE Sabadell FC, the Catalan Swimming Federation, Junior FC and the handball teams of OAR Gracia, Balonmano Santo Quirze, Balonmano Bordils and San Martín Adrianenc, among many others.

According to Xavier Adell Salvatella, Chairman of the Catalan Hockey Federation, “we are very happy to partner with Autocares Calella and offer its transport services to our member clubs, safe in the knowledge that their athletes will travel in complete safety”. To this, the Manager of Autocares Calella, Miquel Martí Pierre, added that “we would like to express our gratitude for the trust placed in us by such an important sports entity as the Catalan Hockey Federation. The commitment by the companies in the Moventis Group to meeting safety, hygiene and control protocols is an absolute priority, and the agreements we have so far reached with sports entities and organisations in other sectors drive us to continue working every day to maintain our position as the benchmark mobility company in the public transport sector”.

Moventis SARFA receives recognition for its social responsibility actions during the pandemic

Begur Town Council and El Baix Empordà Regional Council have officially recognised Moventis SARFA for its social responsibility initiatives during the pandemic. The actions most deserving of this high praise are: its promotion of quality employment in the region, its collaboration with local employment services, its launch of initiatives aimed at employment inclusion for people with functional diversity and its donation to Palamós Hospital.

Enric Gimeno, General Manager of Moventis SARFA, collected the award in recognition of the various social responsibility actions undertaken by the company during the pandemic.

The Mayor of Begur, Maite Selva, presented the award to Moventis SARFA and highlighted the importance of such companies that are based on hard work, innovation and commitment in tough times for society like the COVID-19 pandemic. “Commitment shown by companies like Moventis SARFA, which continue to bring added value to all during such tough and uncertain times and have contributed more than ever to consolidating a social, collaborative, sustainable and responsible economy in our region.”

The Palafrugell Municipal Theatre was chosen as the venue to host the award ceremony organised by the El Baix Empordà Regional Council and the El Baix Empordà Regional Network of Economic Promotion Officers, with support from several local council authorities throughout the region, including Begur Town Council. The event sought to highlight those companies in the region that have shown themselves to be socially responsible during the COVID-19 pandemic through initiatives leading to a positive impact for the general public. 

The awards, which were presented to 17 businesses in the region, were proposed by a technical committee made up by the regional council and various local council authorities in El Baix Empordà.
 

The role of Moventis SARFA during the pandemic

Moventis SARFA is an iconic company in El Empordà, a leader in the transport sector and boasts a history spanning almost 100 years. The organisation has been recognised for its regular collaboration with local employment services through participation in training and accompaniment programmes for the re-employment of the unemployed, the inclusion of people with functional diversity in its workforce and the economic contribution made to Palamós Hospital.
 

Social responsibility as a cross-cutting issue

Social responsibility at Moventis is something that forms a major part of its day-to-day business. According to Enric Gimeno, “we are fully aware of our opportunity to build a more equal society and generate well-being for people. It can therefore be said that the concept of solidarity is another of the underlying pillars that support Moventis, an inherent characteristic of our nature”.

According to its CSR Policy, Moventia is committed to returning to society that which society gives to Moventia, understanding solidarity as a voluntary expression by the company in its contribution towards building a better society, its commitment to continually strive to improve and go beyond simply complying with legal obligations and to continue investing in human resources, the environment and stakeholder relations.

Based on this approach to solidarity, Moventis is highly dedicated to commitment and social responsibility in its environment, working with its partners to build a better society.

Presentation of the new gas station and depot for the TIB fleet in Calvià

The compressed natural gas refuelling station will also open to the public soon for the refuelling of private vehicles.

The Mobility and Housing Councillor, Marc Pons, was accompanied by the Mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez, the Director-General for Mobility and Road Transport, Jaume Mateu, and the Managing Director of the Mallorca Transport Consortium, Maarten Johannes Van Bemmelen, on a visit to the new depot-gas refuelling station for the TIB bus fleet in Calvià this morning. The Chairman of Moventia, Miquel Martí, and other representatives from the company managing the new intercity public transport concession for the western region since the start of the year also took part in the visit.

The councillor stressed that “this is one of the six gas refuelling stations we have promoted via the new TIB network on the island of Mallorca, and the first to be opened to all members of the public and businesses in general”. Marc Pons wished to highlight the qualitative leap forward made by implementing the new TIB: “Five years of work are producing good results, a very competitive offer and improved public transport to position Mallorca at the cutting edge of a new intercity mobility model”, he said.

Located in the Son Bugadelles industrial estate, the depot includes a parking area for 42 buses, a bus wash area, an office and a rapid compressed natural gas refuelling station with two refuelling lanes fitted with NGV1 and NGV2 pumps. The gas refuelling station supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) to the TIB bus fleet owned by Moventis. It will soon open to the public for the CNG refuelling of both private cars and trucks, coaches and vans.

Miquel Martí, Chairman of Moventia, expressed gratitude for the support provided by the public authorities in the Balearic Islands and especially Calvià Local Council, which did everything it could to help open the premises and launch the service in record time. “This is the second gas refuelling station opened by Moventia: the first in France and now in Mallorca, which is the first within Spain. It is a clear commitment to public transport, sustainability and decarbonisation”, he said. He went on to add that, “despite the complicated times being caused by the health situation, the Moventis Illes team made it possible to launch this service from 1 January through tenacity and a huge effort, and we are very pleased with the demand we saw in January”.

The Mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, underlined the improvement made to such an important municipal service as public transport, as well as to the compressed natural gas fuel system in terms of the environmental impact and noise. He also stressed that, due to their location in the heart of the municipality, these installations will enable greater efficiency in the service and will also be an advantage in the future for the refuelling of another public service – taxis.

Redexis was responsible for building both the gas refuelling station and the gas supply installations leading to the premises. The energy company built five distribution gas lines to supply gas to a total of six gas refuelling stations located at the headquarters of various concessionaires for the TIB service in Mallorca, making a fleet of 198 compressed natural gas buses possible and thereby promoting more sustainable and economic mobility. Miguel Mayrata, Head of Business Diversification for Redexis said that “Redexis welcomes the opening of this gas refuelling station, which represents the ongoing promotion of the necessary energy infrastructure for both the Moventis fleet and the professionals and citizens of Mallorca to have access to more economical, sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility solutions”.

Besides the depot presented earlier today, Moventis also has another two depots located in the Son Castelló industrial estate. The depots owned by the concessionaire in the western region are home to a total of 55 vehicles, including 12-metre buses, articulated buses, intercity buses, microbuses, etc. so all road and service types can be covered. 50 of these vehicles run on CNG and the remaining five are hybrid electric. It is an entirely new fleet, with which the group wishes to anticipate new mobility habits and therefore base its offer on innovative and sustainable technologies from an environmental and social standpoint.

TCC Pamplona staff recognised at SER Navarra Awards

The staff of TCC Pamplona received one of the awards presented at the SER Navarra Awards ceremony held yesterday at the Baluarte Palace Auditorium

This fifth edition of the event was focused on the fight against COVID and, among a total of 10 different categories, the panel wished to highlight workers in those sectors considered as essential during the early weeks of the pandemic, such as food stores, cleaning and urban transport. The staff of TCC Pamplona received the Navarre Prize of Honour.

The driver, Maite Beorlegui, collected this emotive prize on behalf of all staff and expressed gratitude for the award while dedicating it to all TCC staff members.

“This prize represents recognition by the office staff – those who organise the services every day – of those people who clean the buses and those of us who go out and drive them every day. We all made a huge effort to provide a public service during the toughest times of the pandemic when people needed transport”, said Maite Beorlegui.

The driver was accompanied by the General Manager of TCC, Ramón Palau, and the Director of Transport at the MCP, Jesús Velasco.

Our congratulations to all staff members.

Moventis takes part in an event to present on-demand transport service in Calonge

The Chamber of Commerce of Palamós and Calonge i Sant Antoni Local Council organised an information day entitled “On-demand transport: the Shotl service, your bus closer to you and only a click away” at Calonge Castle this morning. The goal was to raise the profile of this kind of flexible transport services in which the vehicles adapt their route in real time to meet demand. This is a service offered by Moventis that has already been successfully implemented in other municipalities around Catalonia, such as Sant Cugat.

The event discussed the need for this Shotl service in municipalities such as Calonge and Sant Antoni, as well as other towns on the Costa Brava with numerous geographically disperse urbanisations and areas with no conventional public transport services, in order to facilitate mobility for their residents.

The event was attended by Pol Fages, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Palamós; Miquel Martí Pierre, Managing Director of Moventis; Roger Cumeras from Shotl; Pere Aguilar, Head of the Public Transport Department of Sant Cugat del Vallès Local Council, the first municipality where Shotl was launched; David Saldoni, the Director-General of Transport and Mobility of the Regional Government of Catalonia; and Albert Ros, Mobility Councillor for Calonge i Sant Antoni.

The main advantage of the Shotl service lies in that it enables public transport to reach areas with very little demand at present while also representing an economic saving and generating less pollution given that the bus only operates when there is a demand for the service. This avoids bus journeys with no passengers, reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The advantages also include the ease with which users can request a pick-up by the bus – using an app or the telephone – and reduced waiting times.

The second part of the event consisted of a Shotl demonstration on the streets of Calonge and Sant Antoni: how a pick-up is requested, how the service is confirmed, how the driver is told about the shortest route and how the user can see on the app where the bus currently is and their current waiting time.

Visit by the Director-General for Transport and Mobility of the Regional Government of Catalonia

The offices of Moventia HQ were visited this morning by a delegation from the Department of Regional Affairs and Sustainability of the Regional Government of Catalonia. The Director-General for Transport and Mobility, David Saldoni, was accompanied by the Deputy Director-General for Transport Planning and Sectoral Development, Josep Maria Fortuny, and the Deputy Director-General for Public Transport, Benjamín Cubillo.

The visitors received a tour of the new Moventia offices and its control centre, and were shown the new work culture implemented by Moventia since the end of last year when it relocated to the new corporate HQ in Sant Cugat.

The visit was initially planned for March this year but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 health crisis and could not be rearranged until July. On behalf of Moventia, the visitors were welcomed by: Josep Maria Martí, Executive Vice-President of Moventis and CEO of Moventia; Sílvia Martí, Corporate Vice-President of Moventia; Miquel Martí Pierre, Managing Director of the Discretionary Transport Division; Joan Giménez, Managing Director of the Regular Transport Division; and Jordi Castells, Operations Director of Moventis.

Comprehensive answers were provided during the visit to all the questions and concerns expressed by both the regional government representatives and Moventia regarding the current situation in the transport and mobility sector.

A lo largo de la visita, se ha podido dar respuesta exhaustiva a todas las consultas e inquietudes mostradas tanto por parte de los representantes de la Generalitat como por parte de Moventia en relación a la situación actual del sector del transporte y la movilidad

Bla Bla Bus renews contract with Sarfa

Following several months of negotiation, Sarfa has signed a partnership agreement with the company BlaBlabus – the operator of several intercity lines in France – to operate the routes starting or finishing in the city of Barcelona. The specific lines subject to this agreement are:

 

Marseille – Montpellier – Barcelona

Marseille – Nîmes – Montpellier – Perpignan – Barcelona

Bordeaux – Toulouse – Perpignan – Barcelona

Lyon – Montpellier – Perpignan – Barcelona

Paris – Lyon – Barcelona

Barcelona – Perpignan – Carcassonne – Toulouse – Paris

 

The agreement will last four years, during which time Sarfa must provide the service according to the image and quality standards and measures defined by BlaBlaBus. The buses are fully identified with the service image and the drivers are especially chosen for their quality and skill, as well as because they can speak to passengers in French, Spanish and Catalan.

 

This agreement consolidates Sarfa’s presence in France, with services it has been providing non-stop since 2014.

 

Movento awared certificate as “dealership protected against COVID-19″

All Movento centres have been awarded the “Dealership Protected against COVID-19” seal of quality from Faconauto, guaranteeing compliance with the Protection and Prevention Protocol and aimed at highlighting a commitment by official dealerships to employee and customer health.

This seal of quality forms part of a pioneering initiative guaranteed and supported by the certification company TÜV SÜD ATISAE that specialises in the management and validation of certificate issue and subsequent audits to ensure commitments are maintained.

 The Protection and Prevention Protocol forms the basis of this seal of quality and was produced by Faconauto, Anfac and Sernauto, the employers’ association and main business associations in the sector, respectively, together with the two main trade unions in Spain, UGT and CCOO, and subsequently validated by the Spanish Ministry of Health.

The hallmark guarantees the level of safety, confidence and professionalism being offered by Movento to its customers since its premises reopened.

Moventis awarded safety certificates

Moventis now has the main quality certificates applicable to the tourism services and transport sector thanks to action protocols established in response to the risks stemming from COVID-19.

On the one hand, it has obtained APPLUS+ certification on Hygiene and Control Protocols to guarantee compliance with new requirements in terms of cleaning, hygiene, control and organisation of its business.

This certificate, which is issued following external assessment by an independent entity such as APPLUS+, covers issues related to the physical environment and basic hygiene measures, technical measures, organisational measures, workforce control and access control measures at every company forming part of Moventis, both in terms of their regular line business and the discretionary and tourism services they provide.

On the other hand, Moventis has also been given the ICTE Tourism seal of quality by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality, which is focused on activity by the companies within the group that provide tourism services and transportation, covering the more than 500 vehicles in the fleet, employees and work centres.

The goal behind efforts to obtain these certificates is none other than to build confidence among customers, employees and users of Moventis mobility services by helping to reduce risks and comply with the strict hygiene and control protocols put in place by the company in response to the extraordinary situation caused by the recent health crisis.

 

 

Fleet of 20 Moventis buses to promote Costa Brava

An event was held at lunchtime today at the Port of Palamós to present the Costa Brava Proximity Tourism Stimulation Campaign promoted by Moventis Sarfa in partnership with the Costa Brava-Girona Tourist Board of Girona Provincial Council and 20 municipalities on the Costa Brava: Cadaqués, Calonge, Castell-Platja d’Aro, Castelló d’Empúries-Empuriabrava, el Port de la Selva, Figueres, Girona, la Bisbal d’Empordà, l’Escala, Llançà, Lloret de Mar, Palafrugell, Palamós, Pals, Roses, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Santa Cristina d’Aro, Torroella de Montgrí-el Estartit and Tossa de Mar.

The event was attended by Miquel Martí y Escursell, Chairman of Moventia; Miquel Noguer, President of Girona Provincial Council and the Costa Brava-Girona Tourist Board; Lluís Puig, Mayor of Palamós; and Damià Calvet, Councillor for Regional Affairs and Sustainability of the Regional Government of Catalonia.

During the presentation, Miquel Noguer said that “this campaign stems from a series of partnerships and synergies between the private and public sectors. It encourages mobility on public transport and highlights the partnerships being forged to attract visitors and promote tourism on the Costa Brava”. He went on to add that the Costa Brava-Girona Tourist Board is making “its strongest effort ever” to promote tourism in proximity markets. He concluded by saying that “we now have an opportunity to focus on our local audience and show them the natural, landscape, cultural and tourist attractions and values they can enjoy close to home”.

Councillor Damià Calvet explained that certain destinations have been compromised by the pandemic this year and that “the campaign being launched today is calling on safe and exciting local tourism to take up the baton. We are all ready to welcome these tourists. Local councils as the destinations, the regional government as mobility guarantor and our ports as providers of sailing and sports tourism. All this will help reactivate Catalonia”.

Miquel Martí said “at Moventis Sarfa, a one-hundred-year-old company with strong roots in this region, we are promoting and strongly welcome this understanding as yet another demonstration of the excellent results that can be obtained from public-private partnerships. In a situation such as this, we should all be pulling in the same direction to offer a service with the highest standards of quality for travellers, as demonstrated by the APPLUS+ seal of quality on Hygiene and Control Protocols and the ICTE Tourism seal of quality. If we all work together, we will also ensure that the number of visitors to the Costa Brava increases this season, synonymous with proximity tourism and quality at home”.

Lluís Puig said “we should congratulate ourselves because, in these difficult times and with the tourist season dependent on an uncertain health situation, we are joining forces to work together on stimulating our coastline, committing to a tourism campaign that focuses on landscapes but also recognises the work undertaken by the sector at large, which is represented by our tourism companies, which constantly strive for excellence, guaranteeing the Costa Brava as a safe destination, with the highest quality of service and all the necessary health requirements in place”.

The event was also attended by mayors and councillors from the 20 local council authorities taking part in the campaign, members of the Girona Provincial Council, senior members of the Regional Government of Catalonia and other representatives from local society and businesses around Girona.

 

A two-pronged promotion and communication campaign
The campaign aims to encourage mobility on public transport for proximity tourism and raise the profile of the Costa Brava brand throughout the region where the passenger transport company has been operating for close on 100 years. At the same time, it is an initiative aimed at creating ties, a sense of belonging and regional unity through participation by the main local council authorities in the area.

It is specifically targeted at inhabitants of the metropolitan area of Barcelona; some three million potential users. Moventis connects the regions of La Selva, El Alt Empordà and El Baix Empordà in Girona with Barcelona and the airports of Barcelona and Girona, as well as numerous towns throughout Girona. In 2019, it carried close on 2.5 million passengers. As from this year, passengers will be able to access a new website that is faster and more efficient for timetable information and to buy tickets. The company has also obtained APPLUS+ certification on Hygiene and Control Protocols and the ICTE Tourism seal of quality.

Under the slogan “T’esperem amb il·lusió. Vine a la Costa Brava (We look forward to seeing you. Come to the Costa Brava)”, a fleet of 20 Moventis buses will travel around Catalonia showing 20 iconic images of the municipalities in Girona taking part in the campaign.

The campaign is accompanied by radio ads that will feature participating local councils in a spot linked to the ‘Via Lliure’ programme on Rac1 during the weekends in July and August. Using interviews with municipal representatives, they will be used to raise the profile of the values and tourist attractions, gastronomy and landscapes to be enjoyed in each town covered by the initiative.

Additional actions will take place on social media to communicate content related to the campaign. The Costa Brava Proximity Tourism Stimulation Campaign promoted by Moventis Sarfa is an unprecedented action stemming from the coronavirus crisis and supported by the public authorities. The initiative clearly demonstrates the strength of the Catalan business sector and the unified approach being taken to reactive the country’s society and economy.