González de Zárate defends Benidorm's sustainable mobility model at the 'VII Meeting of Cities' in Valladolid

Since yesterday, the VII Meeting of Cities for Road Safety and Sustainable Mobility has been held in Valladolid, which this year has the motto 'Together we all add healthy cities'. An appointment that has become a forum for meetings and debate for the analysis of mobility and urban road safety to disseminate and promote good practices and experiences of road safety and sustainable mobility.

The model and the measures applied by Benidorm are being protagonists in this forum with the presence of the Councilor for Mobility of the local City Council, José Ramón González de Zárate, who has defended the sustainable mobility model of the city and exposed the measures adopted to promote the public transport.

González de Zárate has opted for "the fundamental role" of public transport to reduce the use of private vehicles, which entails "improvements in road safety and reduction of emissions". In this sense, the mayor has explained the measures implemented in Benidorm as the creation of "a multitude of dissuasive parking lots on the outskirts of the city to reduce access by private vehicles." From these car parks, he explained, "a free public transport system has been launched in such a way that by parking the private vehicle in one of them, users are entitled to a free round-trip ticket for urban public transport ”.

The Councilor for Mobility has also specified in his speech the implementation of the Citizen Card "which has a free initial charge of ten euros for public transport." This card has already been distributed to those over 65 years of age and is now being distributed to the rest of the citizens.

Among other measures in favor of sustainable mobility, González de Zárate has also cited the implementation of a generic speed of 20 km/h on most of the roads in the municipality. "Likewise, on the main entrance roads to the city, with two lanes in each direction, speed has been limited to 30 km/h and in especially sensitive areas such as the areas close to the entrances to schools, sports areas, platform unique, etc the speed has been limited to 10 km / h ”he explained.

These measures, added the councilor "are encouraging citizens to use sustainable modes of mobility", with a significant increase in the use of bicycles or personal mobility vehicles (VMP) as a complement to walking, which in Benidorm means 75% of the total. "We are returning the city to the pedestrian, the most vulnerable age groups walk much safer and more relaxed and the accident rate has been considerably reduced" he detailed.

González de Zárate has also opined that the central administration should adopt policies to promote public transport and soft modes with measures such as "aid to acquire transport tickets, purchase bicycles, etc., create networks of public electric bicycles, install parking lots monitored bicycles, subsidies to town halls to implement bus lanes and traffic management and assistance systems, encourage journeys on foot or by bike to work centers through tax reductions for individuals and companies that promote sustainable transport or telecommuting, promoting collective school transport or implementing subsidies to town halls to obtain discounts on public transport, among others”.

Finally, the Councilor for Mobility has considered it necessary to include regulatory changes that include the reduction of speed limits in the urban area of cities and the obligation to install radars on certain roads and apply the sanctions that occur due to excess speed. speed.

Benidorm, an example of safe active mobility for the DGT

On the other hand, the DGT's catalog of good practices has published an article in which Benidorm is set as an example of safer active mobility thanks to planning and education as elements of transformation. The publication assesses that the city has experienced "a profound urban transformation" which, in terms of mobility, has been fostered by the 2016 Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS) and the documents that emanate from it: the Plan of Sustainable Parking (2016), the Global Road Safety Plan (2018), the Universal Accessibility Plan (2018) and the Benidorm Cycling Plan (2020).

The article also highlights, regarding the promotion of the bicycle, that in recent years a network of lanes has been created that meshes practically the entire city, a separate part on the road and another sharing space with motor vehicles.

It is also noted that with the implementation of the SUMP, actions began to generate bike lanes located in the median of the roads and traffic light turns. "In this way the backbone of the system is generated, which has been growing in the main avenues to reach 91 kilometers" reads the text.

Finally, emphasis is also placed on the 2011-2020 Road Safety strategy, which has focused on five factors in mobility: ecological, safe, universal, competitive, and healthy. And it reports that the Local Police promotes an education and road safety program based on the concept of expanded education, a program that is carried out in the Children's Traffic Park, through which more than 27,700 schoolchildren from 3 to 16 have passed since 2009. years, to which are added more than 5,000 users in open days.