• Català
  • Castellano
  • English

The Plaça d'Europa underground car park logs nearly 18 thousand users this summer

parking1The underground parking lot at the Plaça d'Europa of Es Pujols received numbers this summer that were practically double those previously recorded, becoming an indispensable element in accessibility for Formentera's tourist centre par excellence.

The car park is the first pay lot on the island. Opened in summer of last year, it was conceived as a tool to ease traffic congestion and – considering the statistics registered to date – is receiving positive feedback from tourists and island residents alike.

Use of the parking facilities can be broken down into three categories: monthly parking, weekly parking passes and rotating-use. All three categories experienced considerable increases in entries and exits this season. Users of monthly parking increased from 17 to 45. Weekly parking pass users also rose from 37 to 82. However, the greatest increment was registered among rotating users, a group which, numbering only 7,790 in summer of 2012, skyrocketed to 11,541 this year, translating to a 148% increase. The number of total rotations indicates a very positive assessment for the Es Pujols parking facility, one which has only been in operation two years. Figures demonstrate a user volume of 17,857 this year, compared to 8,535 last year, or a 210% difference.

parking4Besides providing a needed service for the tourist-oriented businesses of Es Pujols, the goal of the project is to facilitate parking access for members of the community and tourists alike, and as such, the Formentera Council's Office of Infrastructure will make the service available 24 hours/day and 365 days/year. As was the case last year, starting in October the possibility of monthly space rental will be made available to rent-a-car agencies, hotels, apartments, providers of tourist accommodation, etc.

The Office of Infrastructure has one pricing plan available for summer parking and another in use during the winter season, thus adapting use of the facilities to the real demand that exists on the island. The summer pricing plan establishes a price of 1.50€/hour for short-term use and 70€/month for businesses and residents of the Es Pujols area, this latter group having the possibility of opting for parking that does not require reservation of a fixed parking spot.

The shift to the winter regime takes affect in October and continues through March. This pricing plan establishes a price of 0.50€/hour for regular users (compared to 1.50€/hour for non-regular users) and 30€ for monthly users and Es Pujols residents compared to 70€/month in summer.

parking3Drivers can access the car park via the Carrer de s'Aigua Dolça road, which, lowering cars to the underground level by means of a ramp, connects them to the centre of the Plaça d'Europa. This plaza has itself undergone a change of image, and the opening of new businesses at the perimeter has brought growth to commercial activity in the area.

The unstructured growth to which Es Pujols was subject over the years had provoked a great deal of parking issues, not to mention the fact that the area lacked any real space for pedestrian traffic. The new parking facilities offer a necessary alternative during the high season summer months. The Es Pujols ring road also created 131 new parking spaces. These, together with the Plaça d'Europa lot's 136 spaces, make a total of 267 new parking spaces for the island's indisputable tourist centre.

For more information on how to obtain a Plaça d'Europa underground parking pass, please visit the Office of Citizen Affairs (OAC) of Sant Francesc (Calle de Ramon Llull, 6), dial 971.32.10.87 ext. 0, or go on-line to the Formentera Island Council's website: www.consellinsulardeformentera.cat.