Why Public Electric Transport in Tenerife?

The island of Tenerife (Spain), forms part of a group of 7 island of the Canary Archipelago, located in the    Atlantic Ocean, near to Morocco. The island is the capital of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife being  the largest island with a surface of 2,034.38 km² and a population of 898,680 inhabitants.

The tertiary sector (more specifically tourism) is the dominant field in the canarian economy. This sector has contributed to the change produced in the economic system during the last 50 years, becoming the engine of the Island´s economy. As we can see Tenerife has a high dependence on tourism. Being so high, that investment in this sector is a profitable acquisition.

As the renewable energy sector is boosting in the island, it could maybe be seen as beneficial source to be used for the tourism industry.

Urban challenges in the Island

Although it can seem surprising to many people, as the media sells the island as an idyllic destination, the reality is that it has loads of urban challenges.

The worst problem that the island currently suffers is traffic congestion, which provoked an increase of a 29% in greenhouse gases, along with the refinery, during the period of 1990 to 2010 (emissions produced by buses just reach a 3% of gas emissions). Too many cars, with a single passenger, travel to the capital each day. This is due to a high percentage of the population working or studying in the metropolitan area (Santa Cruz and San Cristobal de La Laguna).

If we had to divide the transport selection, we would find out that a 99.63% of the population would opt for the private transport while  the small remaining percentage would choose public transport.  The main reason why this choice is so small is because of its  inefficiency (too-expensive and bad organized schedules).

This crucial problem is creating a negative image of the island, causing problems in the touristic sector. So why not producing    and   investment in public transport to obtain higher profits in the tourist sector?

The ideal solution

source: Tenerife.es

Public transports price is one of the big reasons why citizens don´t select this option to move around the island. One of the causes of high volatility in public transport prices is due to the change in petrol costs. This insatiability of the prices provokes that people select private transport over public, as it ends up being cheaper.

Electric buses have already been invented, opening a window to a possible solution. An example of these buses is the BYD eBus, which have already been tested in the two main cities of Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), having an excellent outcome. One of the main characteristics to highlight from this bus is their high autonomy due to their advanced technology in electric batteries. Their best advantage is the respect towards the environment as they are 100% electric vehicles with zero gas emissions, which is a key issue towards what the public transport systems around the world should be aiming to.

A sustainable way of producing the electric energy, for theses buses, is through renewable resources. The island has already renewable energies working, but in a small scale. Although one of its neighbor islands (El Hierro) is near to managing a 100% dependency in renewable energies. Tenerife could try to incorporate this project, providing to the transport service the energy needed without affecting climate change.

The project developed in El Hierro involves the installation of a hydroelectric power plant and a wind farm interconnected.  This system is expected to achieve annual savings of 18,700 tones of CO₂ and 1.8 million euros for the 40,000 barrels of petrol that they won´t purchase anymore.

source: sky.com

If this project was introduced in Tenerife, not only public transport problems would be solved, but also most of the energy consumption of the island, which is highly dependent in the refinery.  At the beginning of introducing this energy source in the service of public transport prices might rise, but in the long-term stability on the prices could be ensured, as the renewables are an inexhaustible sources of energy, preventing volatility in prices.

On the other hand, to solve the problem of bus schedules, a similar concept as the BRT (Bus Rapid Transits), which was for the first time developed in Brazil, could be introduced in the island. It has been demonstrated that this type of systems, integrated by buses, can have functions and services similar to those provide by rail systems, as well as producing a lower impact on the environment. This kind of system with independent road networks is able to transport a high number of people per hour (e.g. TransMilienio in Bogota transports 20.000 travellers per hour). It is also important to underline that we would also be aiming to improve the travelling methods of people, targeting for an eco-movement of citizens within the island, trying to reach the goal of a reduction on car use. It is important to state that the system would have to be introduced at a much smaller scale because of the dimension of the island.

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(video: example of BRT)

Bus lanes could be created with the aim of only having this vehicles circulating on this rails, providing a fixed schedule, which buses will be able to attend avoiding the typical traffic jams. With this new system, the public transport in Tenerife will be more efficient and able to attend citizen’s demand.  The cost of creating this system would be much more cost-efficient than the project of the train that they want to introduce in the island, as well as a more sustainable.

Improved Tourist sector

All this changes that we have proposed could create a better image of the island and also it would increase its sustainability. The reduction in traffic congestion generated with a satisfactory implementation of this system would make the preference for public transport increase between the citizens, making the percentage in this type of transport increase.

The investment needed at the beginning of the project would be very high but it would stimulate the tertiary sector, having a better outcome, with higher profits from this field.

Comments Off on Why Public Electric Transport in Tenerife? / 13 Dec 2013 por mariagutierrez
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