The Office of Mobility of the Consell de Formentera is pleased to report that the access barriers of the car park under Plaça d'Europa in Es Pujols will be reactivated from Monday 20 February.

The barriers were left open last summer following a serious incident at the access control and payment machines. Due to the lack of supplies, the incident could not be resolved until today. Once resolved, the parking lot will resume normal operations on Monday 20 February. A second payment machine will be installed this year to avoid a recurrence of the incident.

Car park users will have to stop by the office to purchase or renew subscriptions. Users who had subscriptions at the time of the incident have the option of requesting a new subscription for the period of time they were unable to use the service or a refund of the money for the days for which the service was not provided as agreed. Some of the regular users have already requested one of the two options.

The office is open Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 2.00pm. From 20 to 24 February, it will also open afternoons from 4.00pm to 6.00pm to handle the expected increase in requests.

15 February 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Office of Mobility of the Consell de Formentera is pleased to announce open registration for the second round of tests in 2023 to obtain the local chauffeurs' permit. The exam will take place on 3 March 2023. Interested parties can sign up in person at the Citizen Information Office (OAC) or online on the OVAC.

Information about prerequisites and areas that will be covered in the exam are available here.

Candidates must speak the two official languages, Catalan and Spanish, as well as two foreign languages, English and German, Italian or French. They must also answer questions about the municipality of Formentera and rules on urban and intercity passenger transport service in light vehicles.

Rafael González, mobility councillor, voiced his hope that the two rounds of exams would once again produce enough passing drivers to cover the 49 positions available. Under the Action Plan for Public Passenger Transport by Vehicle, in summer 2022 and 2023, taxi service will be provided by 25 drivers with ordinary licenses and 24 with seasonal licenses. The island's government and association of chauffeurs voted to expand the number of local cabs by 29% from summer 2021, when there were 25 ordinary and 13 seasonal licences. In Councillor González's words, the increase is designed to "improve the public service by tailoring supply to fit our current needs."

1 February 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Office of Mobility of the Consell de Formentera has started automatically renewing authorisations to park in Formentera's metred blue and green parking zones. Until now, renewals were done annually at the request of interested parties, but from this January, the Consell de Formentera will automatically renew authorisations provided motorists:

- are residents of Formentera.
- own the vehicle in question.
- pay the vehicle tax on Formentera.

Rafael González, mobility councillor, said the measure was designed to spare drivers paperwork and the inconvenience of an expired authorisation and having to wait to be authorised again. If any of the three requirements are not met or any document is missing, "the Consell will notify the interested party so they can address the issue in advance and avoid losing their authorisation", he added.

A total of 164 authorisations expired this January, 135 (82%) of which were automatically renewed. Another eight (5%) were rejected because the individuals in question are no longer residents and 21 (13%) did not meet one of the other requirements. The Consell has contacted individuals whose automatic renewal could not be processed. Questions? Send an email to mobilitat@conselldeformentera.cat or call 971321087 and ask for the Office of Mobility.

Finally, Councillor González stressed that residents can park for free in both blue and green zones. Metred parking was launched in 2015 in La Savina in response to the parking problems that existed in that town. "After seeing how well it worked, we expanded the regulated parking scheme to other towns where there were complaints about lack of parking", said the councillor. Metred parking is currently in place in La Savina, Sant Francesc, Sant Ferran and, in summer, Es Pujols.

31 January 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Office of Mobility of the Consell de Formentera is pleased to announce that islanders have until 10 January to apply to take the exam to obtain the local chauffeurs' permit. Exams will be held 27 January 2023. Interested parties may sign up in person at the Citizen Information Office or online at the Virtual Citizen Information Office (OVAC).

Details about conditions and the scope of the exam can be found here.

Aspiring taxi drivers must speak the two official languages (Catalan and Spanish) as well as two foreign languages – English and German, Italian or French. Examinees will answer questions related to the municipality of Formentera and rules governing the provision of urban and intercity passenger transport in light vehicles.

Rafael González, councillor of mobility, highlighted a second round of exams on 3 March. "We hope the two rounds will ensure that we once again have 49 permit-holding drivers to assure taxi service", he said.

Under the Public Passenger Vehicle Transport Action Plan, 49 chauffeurs (25 regular permit-holders and 24 seasonal permit-holders) will operate during the 2022-2023 season. According to González, "To improve the public service and ensure that supply fits with current needs, we agreed with the sector to increase total taxis by 29% from the summer 2021 baseline, when there were 25 regular and 13 seasonal permits."

4 January 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera