In order to effectively carry out its functions of planning and organising passenger transport and facilitate decision-making, the Consortium needs to know, as accurately as possible and in an up-to-date manner, the mobility of passengers that is channelled through the different modes of transport for the different areas of service provision, as well as the main patterns and ratios of displacement of the inhabitants of the region.

The Regional Transport Consortium of Madrid has among its functions, within the framework of the powers attributed to it in Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Law on the Creation of the Regional Transport Consortium of Madrid, Law 5/1985 of 16 May, the planning of infrastructures and public passenger transport services.

In order to effectively carry out these functions of planning and organising passenger transport and facilitate decision-making, the Consortium needs to know, as accurately as possible and in an up-to-date manner, the mobility of passengers that is channelled through the different modes of transport for the different areas of service provision, as well as the main patterns and ratios of displacement of the inhabitants of the region.

Among transport surveys, the Synthetic Mobility Surveys collect both socio-economic and mobility information on the system at a specific time in order to serve for its subsequent evaluation of the different future policies and strategies for the efficient planning of public transport. These surveys are a useful and necessary instrument for monitoring mobility more continuously in the long periods of time between large household surveys.