In first participatory session, Formentera reaches out to islanders on sustainable mobility plan

Yesterday the Formentera Council's Office of Mobility held its first participatory drafting session as the administration prepares to put together the island's "Sustainable Mobility Plan" (Pla de Mobilitat Sostenible). The gathering was attended by Councillor Rafael González, of Formentera's infrastructure and mobility departments; Councillor Sònia Cardona, head of citizen participation; and representatives of IDOM, the firm tasked with preparing the document. The officials officials gathered before the neighbourhood, land and environment sections of the Consell d'Entitats to share details of their research.

Aim of Sustainable Mobility Plan
According to Councillor González, the plan is about “identifying measures and actions that will help reshape mobility on the island, making it more sustainable and in tune with the environment”.

The strategy, said González, entails four working phases: piloting a review of local mobility, past and present; articulating strategic courses of action; preparing an action plan for a fixed set of objectives; and, lastly, planning and budgeting for manoeuvres in the coming years. Last night, meeting attendees got a look at the first two phases of the plan.

Mobility survey: now and moving forward
Holding up the results of surveys and headcounts administered last year, officials reported that on any given day in summer, 118,9111 people went mobile in some capacity. In 36,609 cases, those people were residents. Another 72,726 were travellers with plans to stay the night on the island. In the remaining 8,576 cases, respondents arrived and departed anew the same day.

Of the 37,609 displacements by locals (equivalent, on average, to 3.2 trips per person per day), 82% happened with a privately-owned vehicle. The remaining 18% of the time, residents opted for sustainable options such as walking, cycling or public transport.

Overnight visitors accounted for 72,726 displacements, or an average of 3.6 trips per person per day. In 66% of those cases, people used hired vehicles like cars or scooters to get where they were going; 11% of the time they drove their own vehicle. Sustainable transport was used in 17% of the trips taking place on the island. Other, non-sustainable transport was used 6% of the time.

And what about the 8,576 jaunts taken by daytrippers? For starters, each of these excursionistes took an average of 2.3 trips during his or her stay. They opted for sustainable mobility 40% of the time, followed by rental vehicles (38%); individually-owned vehicles (10%); cabs (9%) and other kinds of transport.

Survey administrators found that mobile islanders tended to stay in Sant Francesc, travelled between Sant Francesc and Sant Ferran or travelled between Sant Francesc and es Pujols. Overnight visitors tended to cover more ground, taking trips across the island, while single-day visitors usually stayed inside ses Salines nature preserve.

Strategic courses of action
Looking at the data, Councillor González highlighted “the soaring number of trips made by residents, overnight visitors, and daytrippers alike with privately-owned vehicles”. The task at present, he concluded, is to work towards a more sustainable understanding of mobility that accommodates more travel by foot, bicycle and publicly-subsidised transport “in order to strike a balance with transport that is sustainable and respectful of the environment”.

Nearly a dozen guidelines, most of which focussed on encouraging people to walk instead of drive; creating suitable infrastructure for cyclists; reshaping public transport to reflect the needs and demands of islanders and tourists today; improving options and accessibility for people living far from established urban areas; promoting more sensible use of privately-owned vehicles; improving road safety; and reorganising and managing parking areas.

From today, islanders can offer comments on the strategy for consideration ahead of the drafting of an action plan to be unveiled at the next meeting of the Consell d'Entitats.