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Who we are

El Transbordador de Vizcaya S.L.

The company El Transbordador de Vizcaya S.L. holds the administrative concession to commercially operate the bridge-shuttle, popularly known as the Puente Colgante (Hanging Bridge) and officially the Puente Vizcaya (Vizcaya Bridge) between the Vizcaya towns of Portugalete and Getxo, situated on opposite banks at the mouth of the Nervión river.
The company was constituted on 21 December 1995 on the call and subsequent award of the corresponding public tender, and has since then operated the shuttle service between both sides of the river without interruption, which is currently its main source of revenue.
In recent years, the company – without reducing the service and optimising the transport, which is the reason behind the Hanging Bridge— has also known how to innovate by diversifying its activities and boosting the tourism aspects (tours, merchandising, etc.) linked in part to the Bridge’s attraction as a unique piece of engineering and, on the other hand, its conditions as a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO in 2006.

Changes

When the company took over the concession in 1995 it was aware of the need to make significant investment in order to renovate and update both the Bridge’s structural aspects (replacing the gondola) and the operating systems (opening and closing, berthing, speed, air-conditioning, access controls), and as regards its functionality. Hence, without failing to comply with the original essential mission of a shuttle, it is also a touristic attraction which can be commercially operated (opening the pedestrian walkway).

Inauguration

These changes were officially inaugurated in July 1999, with the presence Their Royal Highnesses the King and Queen of Spain, and received new lighting in December of that same year to substitute the previous lighting system from 1991.

In 2002 the Bridge received the Europa Nostra prize given by the European Union Culture Department for its work in recovering and conserving European Cultural Heritage.

New Vision

Como ya ha mencionado, la adjudicación en 1996 del concurso de explotación supuso un punto de inflexión en el compromiso de puesta en valor de esta obra singular y majestuosa, teniendo como línea estratégica de actuación las tres siguientes ideas básicas:

We have as a strategic line of action the following three basic ideas:

01

Compromise

Commitment to serving the community for another hundred years.

02

Update

Technological update of the facilities.

03

Promotion

Cultural promotion and visibility of the work.

The company "El Transbordador de Vizcaya S.L." has its offices and registered address in Getxo (Bizkaia), where the maintenance workshops and spare parts warehouse are located. C/ Barria, Nº 3 - Ground Floor 48.930 Las Arenas (Getxo) - Bizkaia 94 480 10 12 promocion@puente-colgante.com Tax Identification Number (NIF): B 48791818 Registered in the Mercantile Registry of Vizcaya, Volume 3304, General Section of Companies, Sheet 59, Page BI-15.153, 1st Registration.

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