In 2020, the pandemic brought the growth of the vehicle population on the Pitiusas Islands to a screeching halt. That year it only grew by 0.5% on Ibiza and fell by 0.1% on Formentera. Until that year, the usual year-on-year increase was between 2.4% and 4.3%. This growth of the period prior to the health crisis was recovered in 2021: the Pitiusa vehicle population increased last year by 2%, going from 167,045 vehicles in 2020 to 170,368, which is 3,323 more in a single year. At the end 2021, the fleet of the island of Ibiza amounted to 154,454 units, 3,039 more (+2%) than the previous year. This picks up the pace after the increase of only 875 vehicles in 2020, but is still far from the 4,000 added in 2018, the 5,000 in 2017 or the 6,000 in 2016.
On Formentera, its fleet now stands at 15,914 units, 284 more than in 2020, which represents an increase of 1.8%, also far from percentages such as 3.1% in 2019 and 5.6% in 2018.
In both cases, these percentages are higher than those of Mallorca, where 812,845 vehicles were sold, a 0.9% year-on-year increase. On that island, before the pandemic, they experienced an increase of 1.9%. On Menorca (83,580 units in 2021), the increase was 1.85%.
Vehicle fleet by type
On Ibiza there are 1,010.69 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, i.e. slightly more than one per person (minor children included). This is not the highest percentage in its history: in 2019 it reached 1,017.75; in 2018, 1015.72. The highest density is in the municipality of Sant Josep (1,078), followed by Sant Joan (1,039), Ibiza (1,019), Santa Eulària (1,011.7) and Sant Antoni (917).
On Formentera the record for vehicle density was broken in 2021: 1,359.24 per 1,000 people. Although the averages for the islands of Mallorca (890.7) and Menorca (871.2) are much lower than those of the Pitiusas, there are four Mallorcan municipalities that surpass Formentera: Deià (1,405), Montuïri (1,417), Ariany (1,534) and Escorca (16,933). No, it is not a mistake: Escorca, with barely 200 inhabitants, is so densely populated because it is one of Spain’s ‘tax havens’, which car hire companies take advantage of when it comes to registering vehicles.
The number of buses on Ibiza has been reduced. There are 55 fewer than in 2019. There has not been so few since 2015
The average number of passenger cars is more balanced: 625 per 1,000 inhabitants on Ibiza; 654 on Formentera, 634 on Mallorca and 576 on Menorca… but 14,928 in Escorca, you know why.
All of Ibiza’s municipalities registered increases in 2021, but not to the same extent. Ibiza only added 315 cars, motorcycles and trucks ( 0.6%), very few compared to Sant Antoni (363, 1.47%), Sant Josep (1,036, 3.5%) and Santa Eulària (1,081, 2.7%). Car rentals have a lot to do with this difference between the main city and the clearly tourist destinations. Even Sant Joan (244, 3.6%) had a higher percentage.
95,574 cars
The increase of cars (1.8%) on Ibiza is below the average number of vehicles. There are 95,574 circulating on the island (there has never been so many), almost 1,700 more than in 2020. If the total average has reached 2%, it is thanks to motorcycles, which have added 2.8% to the figure of a year ago: there are 28,183 motorized two-wheeled vehicles on Ibiza’s asphalt (765).
And while there is so much talk about increasing public transport, the number of buses decreased: there are 387 in the Ibizan fleet, 16 less (-4%). There has not been so few since 2015, when just that amount was recorded. It should be noted that they are 55 buses less than there were in 2019, when the height was reached. This is one of the sectors where the pandemic has wreaked the most havoc.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.