Shuttle buses and staggering entry to class, ULL solutions to queues

At the signing, an act in which the main protagonists demonstrated a lot of personal complicity as a result of previous meetings and encounters, the manager of the educational center, María Teresa Covisa, and the Mobility Advisor in the island government, Eulalia García, were also present.

Strategic ally

Rosa Dávila valued the importance of the agreement, since the university community “is a strategic ally in the fight against traffic jams and in promoting sustainable mobility.” Under the protocol, the island Corporation is committed to promoting and supporting research in mobility to develop suitable solutions for an island space such as Tenerife; to the promotion of dissemination and promotion actions on the Island, especially among university students, and to the adaptation of the TEN+VAO application to facilitate the use of shared vehicles by the educational community.

A drop in the sea

Rector García – he quotes Antonio Gramsci, founder of the Italian Communist Party, included – indicated that “today is an important day.” He thanked the Cabildo for its efforts and highlighted the importance of “joining together to put one more drop in the sea of ​​the solution to Tenerife’s traffic problems.” He summarized that “they come from afar” and have their roots “in the development model of the Island, too expansive in my opinion, in the use of the territory.” He recalled the existence of a Mobility Plan carried out by the ULL and advanced the analysis of the possible staggering of the schedules of both students and Administration and Services Personnel (PAS). He described as “hardly sustainable the ratio of just over one occupant (1.2) in the vehicles that travel during rush hours, along the TF-5 and also through the university space. He announced as a challenge “actions linked to promoting the use of high-occupancy vehicles.” Dávila indicated at this point that they would even “have a priority for parking at the ULL.” García also celebrated the support for “our Mobility Chair to be able to provide data, rigorous and scientific analysis.”

‘Pin’ the student

Another measure involves securing the students on campus so that all students do not move at the same time during peak hours if they use a private vehicle to return home. With programs such as the improvement of dining vouchers and infrastructure, all with the idea that they stay longer in them and do not have to take their car to the roads at those peak hours. Dávila stressed the support of the Cabildo to support solutions aimed at expanding the capacity of university residences and therefore avoiding displacement. That students, in short, “make more of a university community.” The president of the Cabildo also announced incentives for these students to use public transportation, review the possible adaptation of schedules and analyze the capacity of each faculty to teach some classes in different time frames or at least not all at the same time.

ULL commitments

Under the signed agreement, the University of La Laguna is committed to the design and implementation of educational programs in sustainable mobility; to the integration of concepts of this subject in the academic programs to raise awareness among students about its importance and to generate their social commitment, as well as to the study and establishment, where appropriate, of measures aimed at decongesting the use of the parking lots of the different campus.

Shuttles to success

Dávila and García highlighted the success of the two Titsa university shuttles, 606 and 608, which transport students from Icod de los Vinos and Los Realejos. The measure was recently implemented from the insular Mobility Area. The rector even announced that soon they will also leave from the south of the Island.

Dávila assessed: «The shuttle buses have been a success. During the first week, along with the reinforcements, some 50,000 users used them and in the second there were more than 60,000 people who used this public transport. In addition, he added, “students have valued being able to have direct buses without transfers to go to university campuses.” The rector thanked the installation of the shuttles: «The initiative is being a success and we should all congratulate ourselves for this idea that facilitates and strengthens an access system straight to the campus from the North so that university students can come on sustainable, collective and future transportation.

Half in his car

Half of the members of the University of La Laguna go to the center by private car. An internal survey carried out in March of this year reveals that more than 13,200 students, teachers and administration and services staff (PAS) use their vehicle to go to the faculties and that one in three goes alone The urban developments of La Laguna and its University were carried out without the knowledge of traffic organization and the need to avoid traffic jams, especially on the Northern Highway (TF-5). It was one of the conclusions of the survey of 10.6% of ULL members, 2,713 of the 25,414 students, professors, researchers and staff who made up the La Laguna university community in the 2022-2023 academic year. Of this large family, 20,523 are undergraduate, master’s or postgraduate students; 4,094 belong to the teaching and research staff; and 797 work in the PAS.