Thursday, 24 November 2022 10:32
Yesterday at 7.30pm, Formentera's league of associations convened to review and evaluate the results of formentera.eco, the scheme to regulate vehicles brought and driven on the island in 2022. Attendees of the gathering reviewed two proposals on the fees and start and end dates of the scheme in 2023. On Monday 12 December, the Consell d'Entitats will reconvene for a second session to review feedback from the island's associations and vote on proposals.
President Ana Juan explained that this was formentera.eco's fourth year and the third year in which the number of permits to drive vehicles on the island is reduced. Since the scheme launched the number of permits available has been lowered by 12%. Next year Formentera will reach legislators' goal of cutting the number of permits by 16% in four years. Juan emphasised the importance of "continued work on policies that seek social and environmental equilibrium and quality of life for our residents". The president added that the new contract for public transport "will mark a quantum leap forward in the service for tourists and islanders".
Weighing results
Rafael González, councillor of mobility, trumpeted the results of the scheme in 2022. "There has been a significant and perceptible drop in traffic", he said, pointing up an 8.5% decline since 2017, while insisting on the need to do more. Visitors' average stay is up from 3.5 days in 2021 to 5.4 days in 2022 and single-day visits are down: in 2021 they made up 40% of bookings, while this year they accounted for 27%. "Day-trippers are still constitute a considerable portion of our visitors", conceded the councillor, but he asserted that "the situation has improved, and we think that can be traced to last year's fee rise, which penalised short stays by creating minimum per-day fees of €15".
González also drew attention to impressive increases in cycling and cab-hailing, which are up 150% and 70%, respectively, since 2017. Bus ridership has also returned to pre-pandemic levels, he said. With all these data, the councillor argued that, as agreed at the start of the term, the ceiling on vehicles must continue to be lowered and one-day stays must continue to be penalised.
Discussing fees and enforcement period
To continue with the regulatory scheme, attendees reviewed two proposals which they will now relay to their associates. Vanessa Parellada, councillor of citizen participation and moderator of the gathering, said a vote would be held next week on the terms of formentera.eco in 2023.
Start and end dates
Option 1: extended regulatory period (1 June to 30 September).
Option 2: no change (15 June to 15 September).
Fees
Option 1: doubled fees from 15 July to 31 August, no change during rest of season (€6/day with €30 minimum for cars; €3/day with €15 minimum for motorcycles).
Option 2: doubled fees for entire regulatory period.
This last proposal was included at the request of associations. As a second option, the Consell proposed maintaining fees at the 2022 level during the entire regulatory period (€3/day with €15 minimum for cars; €1.50/day with €7.50 minimum for motorcycles). By request from the participants of the Consell d'Entitats, the second option was replaced by the option of doubling the fee for the entire regulatory period.
24 November 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera