Tenerife Council and the University of La Laguna (ULL) have reached an agreement to stagger university timetables as a measure to ease congestion on the TF-5 motorway from the 2025-2026 academic year. The measure will affect 2,750 students from 13 degrees across nine faculties and is expected to remove at least 554 vehicles from the road daily.
At a press conference held this Thursday at the academic institution in La Laguna, the president of the Council, Rosa Dávila (Canarian Coalition), and the rector of the ULL, Francisco García, outlined the details of this measure, which began in March 2023 under the mandate of Pedro Martín (PSOE).
Affected Faculties
According to the Council, 13 degrees will see changes in their timetables, both at the start and end of classes. Thus, Fine Arts, with 440 students, will start all its classes at 9 am and can extend until 4 pm.
In the Design Degree, with 206 students, the start is also delayed to 9:00 and ends at 16:00. It will also affect Conservation and Restoration, with 133 students.
For the degree in Spanish: Language and Literature, third and fourth-year classes will be adjusted to a schedule from 9:00 to 13:30, preventing 21 trips. In Philosophy, with 171 students, the start is delayed to 9:30, with the end at 14:00.
In the Chemistry Degree, with 252 students, entries are staggered between 8:30 and 9:30. On Mondays, schedules will be rearranged so that in most cases classes don’t start until 11:00 or even 12:00. The end of afternoon practices has also been adjusted.
In the case of the Speech Therapy Degree, the first-year group will begin their classes at 9:00 instead of 8:00, at least during the first semester, preventing 18 cars from being on the road. It is indicated that the same adjustment is being considered for the second semester.
The Computer Engineering Degree, with 562 students, will start classes at 9:00 in all groups. In Electronic Engineering, with 95 students; Mechanics, with 106; and Industrial Chemistry, with 81, all entries will be set at 9:00, reducing 17, 19, and 15 cars, respectively.
In the School of Civil Engineering and Technical Architecture, both in Technical Architecture and Civil Engineering – with 266 and 243 students respectively – the schedule will alternate according to the course: odd-year students will attend in the morning and even-year students in the afternoon.
The University and the Council, Dávila and García, have assured that work will be done to extend this measure to the remaining faculties in the next academic year, as well as to include administrative staff.
Other Measures
In addition to the staggered timetables, the University and the Council have included continuing and expanding with other complementary actions, such as strengthening shuttle buses between the north and south and working on the tender for smart barriers in university car parks to prioritise high-occupancy vehicles.
Other actions include promoting carpooling through the TEN+VAO app.
