Tenerife Aims to Triple Public Transport Use to Tackle Traffic

Tenerife's local government, the Cabildo, wants to significantly increase the number of residents using public transport, especially buses. Their goal is to raise public transport usage from the current 7% to 20% of all journeys. This is a key part of their plan to reduce traffic congestion on the island's roads.

Eulalia García, a councilor for Tenerife, highlighted this initiative on Friday, October 24th, at the II Sustainable Mobility and Connectivity Forum. The event was organized by Prensa Ibérica, the publisher of the newspapers EL DÍA and La Provincia, and took place at the Hotel Iberostar Mencey in Tenerife's capital city. Moisés Álvarez, editor-in-chief of the Tenerife newspaper, moderated the forum.

García's presentation focused on the Sustainable Mobility Plan (Pimsit), a plan containing 91 actions designed to end traffic jams on the island by 2035-2045. A central part of this plan is promoting public transport. García emphasized that "The level of car ownership in Tenerife, combined with the fact that private vehicles average only 1.3 occupants, is simply not sustainable."

"We need to act, and quickly," stated the head of the Mobility area, adding that data shows building more roads alone won't solve the problem.

She pointed out that half of the 3.2 million journeys made on a typical weekday on the island are only seven kilometers long, and 80% are less than 10 kilometers. Importantly, she clarified that tourists aren't the main cause of congestion; 93% of these journeys are made by residents.

Therefore, in addition to road construction and expansion, García mentioned other actions in the Mobility Plan that are essential to eliminating traffic jams.

These include improving public transport, creating park-and-ride facilities, staggering university student entry times (a strategy that could be applied to other sectors), improving freight transport, and using technology to improve traffic flow.

García announced that the Sustainable Mobility Plan, created by Tema Ingeniería under the Cabildo's supervision, is open to suggestions from government bodies, businesses, organizations, and citizens until December 15th.

After this public feedback phase, viable and appropriate improvements will be incorporated, and the plan will be finalized. This final version will be a binding document that "must be complied with."

This Pimsit plan replaces an earlier draft and includes the southern train project but excludes the northern one. García explained that the plan's timeline (with scenarios for 2035 and 2045) considered the progress of each project. The southern railway is "much further along in development than the northern one." She clarified, "This doesn't mean we're abandoning the northern train. It simply means we're prioritizing the southern one because its planning is more advanced."

The plan, costing 2.333 billion euros, aims to reduce traffic by focusing on the southern train, improving existing transport (buses and trams), investing heavily in road expansion (1.898 billion euros), and building park-and-ride facilities to encourage people to leave their cars (especially single-occupancy vehicles) outside city centers.

"The Canary Islands' train projects are closer than ever, and we'll see them sooner than we think." This was the prediction from Pablo Rodríguez, the Minister of Public Works, Housing, and Mobility of the Canary Islands Government, at the II Sustainable Mobility and Connectivity Forum. He was referring to crucial projects designed to improve transport on the two main islands.

"Some consider it a distant dream, but this year, a major step was taken: the Ministry of Transport signed an agreement committing the Spanish Government to the railway networks of Tenerife and Gran Canaria," he emphasized. Rodríguez also noted that the recently approved Sustainable Mobility Bill "includes funding for the Canary Islands' trains."

Rodríguez stated that the regional government, through the third Road Agreement with the State, has invested 500 million euros in improving Tenerife's road infrastructure. "These projects are expensive and slow because they must be balanced with environmental protection, and Spanish regulations are very strict. However, the effort is significant," he said, adding that more projects are planned, some of which will be included in the fourth agreement.

Rodríguez highlighted the Erjos tunnel project, part of the Insular Ring road connecting Santiago del Teide and El Tanque (linking the south and north via the west of the island). "Currently, the largest twin-tube tunnel in Spain is under construction." He also mentioned the Canarian Government's "efforts" to create a single public transport pass for the entire archipelago, allowing residents to use different transport lines for free.

Regarding infrastructure, the new Pimsit plan supports adding third lanes to the North and South highways, completing the Insular Ring road, building alternative routes (a bypass of the TF-5 in La Laguna, the Mesa Mota tunnel between La Laguna and Tegueste, and an outer western ring road), burying part of the South highway near Adeje, and implementing dedicated bus lanes (bus-HOV lanes) with advanced technology to maximize their efficiency.

Reducing the excessive use of private cars (Tenerife has almost one vehicle per inhabitant: 821,542 vehicles for 960,000 residents) was identified as a priority by two other participants in the II Sustainable Mobility and Connectivity Forum: Marta Domínguez, Vice-Rector for Sustainability and Infrastructure at the University of La Laguna (ULL), and José Ángel Hernández, Secretary General of the Federation of Transport Entrepreneurs of the Canary Islands (FET).

"We must discourage citizens from using private vehicles, starting with myself, as the most urgent measure," said Domínguez, adding, "Most people don't agree, and it's vital to change this if we want to solve the problem."

Hernández added that "we must try to get as many users as possible onto buses, trams, and trains (when they are built), as collective transport is essential, without attacking private vehicles."

During a discussion where only Hernández admitted to regularly using the bus, other proposals were made, including those related to what Hernández called "invisible mobility."

He cited the 1,400 private buses in Tenerife that transport four million tourists annually, suggesting that "it would be ideal to involve many private educational centers in collective transport."

Hernández also included the movement of goods in this category. "Tenerife lacks a network of stops for this sector, which is growing every year, mainly due to the rise of online commerce," he explained, suggesting that "dedicated bus lanes should also include goods vehicles, creating bus-HOV-cargo lanes."

The Mobility Councilor of the Cabildo responded that the Pimsit plan includes measures for the movement of goods and is open "to any proposal that improves the island's mobility."

The Vice-Rector of the University of La Laguna highlighted another issue affecting the university: parking. "One of the biggest problems we have at the University, and across the island, is parking," she said, noting that one faculty has 300 spaces for over 2,000 vehicles. "Parking has been discussed extensively in the Chair of Economics and Mobility at the university, and it's a major challenge that must be addressed," Domínguez concluded.