Seville has been calling for a rail connection between Santa Justa and the airport for years. A request demanded by neighbors, tourists and professionals. In addition, businessmen in the construction sector have offered to finance part of the infrastructure in the face of the passivity of the Ministry of Transport. … The mayor himself has repeatedly criticized the Sánchez government for “punishing” the city in this matter, being practically the only city in Europe with this size and passenger volume (expected to approach ten million by 2025) without a train to the airport. While the Seville capital waits even longer, the only public transport options are buses and taxis. ABC travels to Seville-San Pablo aboard the EA Tussam line.
The tour has eleven stops: Plaza de Armas, Torre del Oro, Prado de San Sebastián, San Bernardo, Luis de Morales, Only You Hotel (Kansas City), Santa Justa, San Pablo Pavilion (Kansas City), Ibis Hotel (Kansas City) and double stop at the airport, both for departures and arrivals. The trip costs six euros per person. The price has increased by two euros in the last two years: In 2024, it increased from four to five euros and in 2025 at the current rate.
The bus we boarded leaves the stop next to Plaza de Armas station shortly after 9:15 a.m. Its frequency is between 15 and 20 minutes for most of the day; 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Before that, it may take 25-30 minutes between 4:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. There is also a night timetable from 8:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., where buses run at an interval of 20 to 30 minutes.
Two Argentine tourists who live in Ibiza go up to the first stage of the trip because during their stay in Seville they stayed in the central area. They chose this option to get to the airport “because of its connectivity” and because “it arrives in half an hour.” It is in fact, the only means of transportation they used during their stay in the city, because “you can go everywhere on foot”. “I was surprised the train didn’t arrive at the airport,” one of them told the newspaper. Stops are announced in Spanish and English, as is the case at Metrocentro, which makes sense considering that virtually all travelers are foreigners.
A predominantly foreign audience
The bus leaves its first stop with few passengers, no more than ten. As it progresses on its journey, more are assembled, but it does not fill up. The half hour is over, despite what our Argentinian travel companions expected, at the Only You hotel stop. They end up being 50 minutes to reach the departures terminalalthough the last one is at arrivals, where the ticket is purchased. Unlike the bus service found in other airports around the world, locating where you purchase them is not lost.
The cost per person for the bus ride to the airport is 6 euros and the taxi fare is 25 euros.
In addition to three vending machines where you can get the ticket, there is also a stand with a Tussam employee who guides and sells tickets to travelers, who can also buy them on the bus itself. This confirms what is already seen when getting into the vehicle, almost 90% of users are foreigners. “Now, with Christmas, there are perhaps more people from here, but if you look around you will see that it is practically a service used only by foreigners,” he emphasizes. In addition to the one-way trip, the possibility of purchasing a return ticket for 8 euros is offered, provided that the return to the airport is made the day after purchase. “We would have bought it but being there for several days doesn’t make sense,” says one of the users. The queue is long, which shows that this is the preferred option for tourists.
The Sevillians are quickly placed in the Departures terminal where the line of cars unloading and collecting passengers is now another part of the airport itself. At the time of this report, a weekday morning, it is less busy than on other occasions when the density of cars in double rows causes the entrance to the terminal to be blocked, for lack of a sufficiently spacious space to accommodate it.
To return to town, apart from the bus, the options are taxi or VTC service. The taxi has a fixed price of 25 euros by day and 28 euros by night to any point in Seville. In this case, the return takes place at the Plaza de Armas. San Pablo has an area set up for the collection of these cars, a few meters from the terminal exit. Even if the pick-up is still in the parking lot, we appreciate that the area is finally regulated and marked. This is where the majority of natives are concentrated. The chosen application offers the trip to the central bus station for 19 eurosbeing the most economical private transport option. Being two people, the difference is seven euros (three and a half euros per person) and the journey takes less than half an hour compared to 50 minutes for the bus; an option that is ultimately only profitable if you are traveling alone.
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