The Senate has awarded a €1.37 million contract for an eight-month car-park overhaul. The work will add charging points for staff and senators and replace obsolete fluorescent lighting.
The Senate spent €10.9 million on senators’ collective-transport journeys in just over three years, a record across the five legislatures for which figures are available. No legislature in that period has spent more on this item.
The scheme covers air travel. Rail journeys qualify too. It also pays for bus trips and boat travel. The Senate is chaired by Pedro Rollán and controlled by the PP.
There are 266 senators. The Senate has 326 employees, including 255 civil servants of the Cortes Generales and 71 labour staff. More than a hundred temporary staff also work there, among them advisers and trusted aides.
The car-park contract was awarded last week. It follows requests from staff representatives and the Grupo Parlamentario Socialista. The works are intended to bring the facilities into line with newer sustainability and electric-mobility requirements. The Senate’s official activity calendar was published on 12 October and updated on 15 October 2026. It says both chambers have been dissolved since 6 October 2026.
The Senate already has 14 official vehicles with Cero Emisiones or ECO labels, along with 14 charging points. More chargers are planned for staff and senators. The project will follow safety recommendations from the Cuerpo de Bomberos del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, which advises putting chargers near exits. The placement is meant to support ventilation and emergency response. It should also make it easier to remove vehicles if a fire breaks out.
The three-level garage covers 5,400 square metres. Workers will replace its fluorescent lights with LED fittings and renew the associated electrical lines and installations. The current system is obsolete and has a greater environmental impact than available alternatives. Replacement parts are hard to come by, making the system more difficult to maintain.
Drivers will be able to see which parking spaces are free: green lights will mark available bays. The plan also calls for a larger, more comfortable booth for the garage attendant. The existing booth became too small after a new tunnel entrance opened.
Walls will be repaired and the asphalt renewed. The layout will change to make room for electric vehicles. Motorcycle and bicycle spaces are also included, as are spaces for people with disabilities.
Parliamentarians also receive a Taxi Card with a maximum annual credit of €3,000 for journeys within the Community of Madrid. That benefit is separate from other transport issues, including the rise in rental-car speeding reported in Andalusia this summer.
Senators who use their own cars receive €0.25 per kilometre, plus motorway tolls where applicable. The car-park works are scheduled to last eight months.
