Benidorm exceeds 7,000 free parking spaces coinciding with the start of the works in Beniardá

The city of Benidorm "already exceeds 7,000 free and free dissuasive parking spaces" coinciding with the next start of the burying works on Beniardá avenue, as reported today by the mayor, Toni Pérez, during the Advisory Council of Mobility held this morning in the Plenary Hall.

Specifically, and after the incorporation of several car parks in recent months, there are now 36 parks and ride distributed throughout different areas of Benidorm, totalling 3,383 spaces in Poniente and 3,622 in Levante.

Toni Pérez has pointed out that "two of these parks and ride car parks, one in Levante and the other in Poniente, will have a free shuttle service" to further facilitate the connection of both with the city centre, La Cala and Rincón de Loix.

Thus, there will be a shuttle from the car park located next to the Regional Fire Station, which has 335 places and through which lines 3 and 11 will pass with a frequency of between 15 and 20 minutes. The shuttles will operate with the same frequency from the car park on Cuba street, in Poniente and with more than 500 spaces available, which will be connected to lines 2 and 3. This car park on Cuba street already operates with 100 spaces and in the mid-next week, as soon as the conditioning works of the plot are finished, it will do so with the total 510.

Users of both car parks will have a parking meter at their disposal to obtain a free return ticket for the same day with the origin and return to the car park. The Councilor for Mobility, José Ramón González de Zárate, has indicated that "depending on the needs, the frequencies could be changed or the lines extended."

The mayor has pointed out that "these park and ride car parks are an ideal option for residents and also, especially, for people from other towns who go to Benidorm daily for work reasons and who can comfortably park their vehicles in these car parks to get around to their workplaces. "I doubt that any destination offers this volume of dissuasive places," he added.

Toni Pérez has highlighted “the effort that has been made by the City Council to create 800 new park-and-ride parking spaces in just a few weeks, anticipating the start of the underground works, to offer a practical and free parking alternative to residents, tourists and residents of other towns in the region. At this point, he thanked the owners who "have made disused land and plots available to the City Council so that they can be set up as dissuasive squares, helping to promote mobility in the city and make it more sustainable."

The City Council has published a triptych in which all these car parks that "we understand have to do with the operation of Beniardá avenue work and the access routes to the city" are collected. Some car parks add to the offer of private car parks that Benidorm has and that of other municipal dissuasive car parks such as Las Terrazas.

As specified by the Councilor for Mobility, there are already 1,000 copies of this brochure available for distribution in public centres, to which another 4,000 will be added in the coming days. In addition, this document will be sent to all the member associations of the Mobility Council and also, through Visit Benidorm, to companies linked to the tourism sector. “The idea is that this brochure has the widest possible distribution”, he indicated.

The City Council reiterates to FGV the request for the TRAM to stop operating during the work

As the mayor has transferred during the Mobility Advisory Council, the City Council has reiterated to Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) the request that the TRAM stop operating between the Benidorm station and the city's intermodal station during the time let the works last. Toni Pérez explained that the municipal proposal happens because "shuttle buses are established between both stations so that the Camí del Llandero would not be affected by the level crossing and thus favor fluid mobility at this point", which during the work of Beniardá it becomes an alternative entry route to Benidorm for residents and emergency vehicles.

If the proposal is accepted, the Camí del Llandero level crossing would be inoperative and "it would not have to work every half hour to make way for the TRAM, which is what will happen if the service is maintained."

Toni Pérez recalled that during the electrification works on line 9 of the TRAM between Denia and Benidorm "FGV has enabled buses to cover much more distant routes than the one we propose, operating this shuttle service for months". In line with the experience in other parts of the province, the mayor has remarked that "we do not ask for a favourable treatment towards Benidorm, but an honest and coherent treatment". Hence, the City Council insists on the suspension of the TRAM between the Benidorm stations while the burial works are underway.

Other topics discussed in the Mobility Council

During today's session of the Mobility Advisory Council, other issues were also addressed, such as the next European Mobility Week, for which the councillors were asked to make the contributions they deem; or the activities of Benimov that start tomorrow Thursday with the opening of the Fair, and that will continue on Friday with the Forum.