An initial proposal that is not drafted with the essential technical details, much less closed. It is the translation in the analysis of those responsible for drawing up the Mobility Plan in the Teide National Park, after knowing the first details. The document must be developed in parallel to the Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) of the protected space, which is on public display until July 22. Quite the contrary, the draft aims to open the debate around the objective of protecting both the Park and its surroundings and freeing it from the burden of some 90,000 vehicles per month. For this reason, the shuttle bus system is proposed in three service areas that are planned to be located in Vilaflor, El Portillo and Chío (Guía de Isora) as interchanges as a base for these buses.
The main content of this forecast is inclined to the thesis of the insular Government based on three premises: it is about subtract traffic on Teide, In the case of the three sites, it is not a question of natural spaces, but of historical centers with urban occupation and reconverting them into centers to decongest that environment.
The Teide National Park is the most visited protected area of the highest national category in Spain. More than four million people did so in 2019 and this circumstance implies an “unsustainable” overload, due to the effect it produces on biodiversity and the landscape. Due to this, the Cabildo released public information in its day -October of last year- an initiative for the implementation of a network of service areas that serve to decongest the excess of private vehicles that travel through its 190 hectares.
During 2020, the year of zero tourism, more than two million people entered the Park, despite the fact that all accesses were closed in April and there was an unusual month without visitors. This figure is equivalent to the same tourists who visited in 2012. The average of recent years far exceeds 3.5 million people. This circumstance collapses the areas designated for parking and the excess of cars usually park on the edges of the road and invade restricted areas, which affects the flora of interest, in addition to deteriorating volcanic formations of great importance.
According to the load studies of the Teide National Park, the number of visits has increased from 2002 to 2019 by almost one million visitors (955,006), with 2019 being the year with the highest number recorded, as it reached 4,443,628. Every day approximately 3,000 vehicles enter the National Park, an average of 88 buses and 2,827 cars, which adds up to almost 90,000 vehicles per month.
In addition to the effect on biodiversity, the saturation of vehicles causes road safety problems due to parking on the sides of the roads, with the consequent invasion of part of the road. Risky maneuvers sometimes generate, in addition to retentions, accidents. The measure aims to order visits to such a representative space for the people of Tenerife. The development of these areas will serve to facilitate access to a fragile place that cannot support so many visitors a year.
The new model, which has already been subjected to a public information process during which only two allegations were presented, does not establish prohibitions on the roads that cross the protected area.
ANDhe system proposes two types of visit to the Teide National Park. On the one hand, that of those who use both their own means of transport and the buses on an organized tourist visit that can access before the established carrying capacity is completed; on the other, that of those who remain outside the quota. For these, as well as for any other visitor who wishes, an organized visit service will be established that will allow access to various points, with different possibilities depending on their execution mode, travel time and other variables.
