The president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila (Canary Coalition), confirmed on Wednesday that the island authority will ensure that public transport remains free throughout 2025, following the outcome of the vote on the omnibus decree in the Congress of Deputies. This decree, amongst other matters, extended subsidies for public transport, but was rejected by the votes of PP, Vox and Junts.
Dávila, who governs alongside the PP in the Cabildo, stated that “public transport will continue to be free on the island, despite the political setback faced by Pedro Sánchez’s government, witnessing the rejection of the royal decree.” She noted, “The funds were allocated to the Canary Islands to ensure it remains cost-free.”
Rosa Dávila reminded everyone that the Cabildo had already reached an agreement in December to maintain free public transport on the island. Therefore, she wished to convey “a message of reassurance to public transport users and all residents of Tenerife, so that they have no reason for concern.”
Although the insular institution has made this resolution to uphold free services, the insular president of the Cabildo added that they would continue to “fight” so that the funds that have not progressed due to the rejection from PP, Vox and Junts “reach” the Canary Islands, thus not “bearing the full burden of the millions it costs to sustain free services.”
“Free public transport is assured throughout 2025, and we will continue the fight to ensure that the intended funds arrive on our island to support our public service,” she concluded.
The PSOE within the Cabildo of Tenerife has urged the island president “to finally” follow through on her promises from October of the previous year and to demand that her PP allies endorse the decree guaranteeing free public transport in Tenerife and the Canary Islands utilising state resources.
The decree that did not receive validation from Congress included various measures, such as free buses and trams, as well as the revaluation of pensions and Minimum Living Income, according to the Socialist group.
The leader of the Socialist group, Pedro Martín, indicated that the PP and Vox have relied on “the right-wing independence movement” of Junts to repeal these measures, parties that, he claims, are also responsible for delaying the distribution of unaccompanied minor immigrants from the Canary Islands to other autonomous communities.
“What kind of partners are the Canary Coalition and Mrs. Rosa Dávila if they disregard the Canary Islands and vote against its interests?” asks Martín, who believes this is the cost that CC imposes upon the residents of the Canary Islands to maintain their authority in the Archipelago and Tenerife.”
The spokesperson for the Socialist group expressed concern that the island president will ultimately blame Pedro Sánchez “to distract and divert from the responsibility of her fellow government members.”
He further noted that Rosa Dávila, in October of the previous year, “came forward defiantly, claiming she would confront the State for free public transportation. But now, in the presence of PP and Vox, has she gone silent?”
The PSOE highlighted that during the last term in the Cabildo Government—while the entry of the State was being processed—they advanced the funds to cover the cost of free public transport for buses and trams in Tenerife.
