On the date and place indicated above, the sessions started with the speech by Mr. Javier Cardenal Abaitua, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vizcaya Bridge, host for the founding event of the WORLD TRANSPORTER BRIDGE ASSOCIATION, accompanied by the Members, Board Members Mr. José Martín Uriarte Rubio, Mrs. Victoria Buckton, Mr. José Maria Arriaga, the Managing Director, Mr. Rafael Sarria and the Technical Consultant Engineer, Mr. Javier Goitia.

The Chairman welcomed all the authorities present, representatives of all the transporter bridges existing around the world, and thanked them for coming and their important contribution and hard work leading up to the holding of this important event to found this Association. At the same time, he referred to the Official Reception held in the Zarzuela Place in the presence of HRH King Juan Carlos, President of Honour of the Association.

        He then went on to speak about The Vizcaya Transporter Bridge, referring to some aspects of the ongoing work that the concessionary company in charge of managing the Vizcaya Bridge has carried out since January 1996. The Basque Government declared the bridge to be an Artistic Historical Monument in July 1984 (Decree 265/1984 of July 17th 1984).
The bridge also won the 2002 “ EUROPA NOSTRA” Prize. This prize is granted by the European Community’s General Directorate for Culture. It was awarded to the Vizcaya Bridge in recognition of the work in the Recovery and Conservation of an European Cultural Heritage Landmark.

        After 7 years, we have finally managed to all meet to take part in this Founding Event of the World Transporter Bridge Association. We believe that today is truly a happy occasion.

        Our bridges, which are today Cultural and Industrial Heritage Landmarks, have survived thanks to the awareness and management of the Authorities and Companies, such as the ones present today.

        Special mention should be made of three major areas in the activity carried out within our philosophy of Great Customer Service Vocation.

	1.	Regular service transporting passengers between the two banks of the River, with an annual average of 6 million pedestrians and 500,000 vehicles. Trying to eliminate, wherever possible, the barriers of this natural phenomenon. This is a difficult task that has become a challenge for our business. Service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
	2.	Conserving the Monument, respecting its structure and Cultural function.
	3.	Promoting the Monument, by means of implementing appropriate Leisure / Tourist /Cultural Activities.

In order to improve the quality of the Service in these areas, the following project phases have been implemented:

	Building a new gondola to protect passengers in bad weather. Went into service on 13th November 1999.
	Building new panoramic waiting areas. With 400 m2 of passenger services.
	Automatic ticket service in the waiting rooms, with the introduction of the CREDITRANS “Single Ticket”.
	Installing special wheel blocks for children’s prams and wheelchairs, in order to avoid hazardous situations or discomfort for the user. These blocks are clearly marked and the Control Operator supervises them at all times by means of close circuit TV. Clear, visible and precise instructions are to be found next to each set of wheel blocks. In case of confusion or uncertainty, the Control Operator communicates with the user over the loud speaker system.
	Installing 2 state-of-the-art panoramic lifts.
	Converting the 50-metre high bridge floor of the Monument into a walkway, between both banks of the River. This initiative is aimed at recovering and promoting the prominence that this important monument deserves, making the citizen aware of even the slightest construction detail and converting it into an important tourist “attraction” for local residents and visitors alike.
	Setting up two tourist information centres, one of each side of the river, where information and tourist/cultural material is available on Portugalete and Getxo, a Historical Territory of Biscay.
	All the systems have been automated so that the time needed to use the Transport Service has fallen from 15 minutes to an average of 6.2 minutes (at the request of the Users), which means that the current waiting time is roughly 3.5 or 4 minutes.
	The whole installation is protected by means of a Security System, made up of 26 video cameras and a global or sector loud speaker system. The system is centralised in the Control room, the nerve centre of the Monument, which is manned by the Controller 24 hours a day, throughout the year.
	Each employee on duty is connected to a hands free communication system, which allows him to react in real time to any incident.
	On the 23rd July 1999, the official opening took place after the various phases of this project had been completed.

        As a finishing touch to this Project, this important monument was lit up in December 1999.

This project obviously came to fruition thanks to an great human team, made up of excellent professionals. Special mentions should be made of the hugely important role of the three businessmen, who make up the company and whose great vocation has been a driving force behind this project. We should also not forget the excellent professional work of two great technicians:
Mr. Juan Carlos Cardenal	Architect
Mr. Javier Goitia	Engineer

        Their contributions were definitive in the execution of the Project.
The cost of implementing this project came to 3 million Euros. We should point out that we have received no subsidies or financial help.

        In order to ensure the funding of this situation, we implemented the following actions and their corresponding development costs over the last four years.

Promoting the tourist and cultural aspects of the Monument at a local and provincial level, in the Autonomous Community, and Nationally and Internationally.