Getting about in Tenerife

If you are used to wasting hours of your life watching the exhaust fumes belch out of the car in front of you on the bumper to bumper motorways of the UK, Tenerife will be an enormous relief.  However, the longer you live on the island and the more distant these memories are, the more likely you are to throw your arms up in despair at the mere sight of a few stationary cars waiting at a junction.  After a few years, even those who were hardened commuters and travelling salesmen baulk at a journey that takes more than half an hour, when once they spent half their lives in a car. 

Petrol prices have spiralled everywhere in the world, and Tenerife is no exception.  Even so, the price of fuel in Tenerife is far below the UK and Ireland.  On a small island with only 1,100 km of highways (roads prefixed with a TF) and less congestion, we spend a good deal less on petrol than people in the UK, Ireland or indeed almost anywhere else in Europe.  It may be tempting to cite these lower costs as a reason why there are so many private cars in Tenerife: there are 1.45 vehicles to every person on the island.  However, a more likely reason is that in many areas there is no option but to own a car.

Public transport does not serve the less populated areas of the island well.  Although the population in the once sparsely settled south has burgeoned, investment in public transport has yet to catch up.  The bus system is efficient and simple to use, but scarce in many areas, and apart from the green guaguas, there are no options in the south.  Santa Cruz and La Laguna have installed a tram service which has proven to be both a well used and popular alternative to buses, cars and taxis.  But if you need to get about outside of the capital, often your only alternatives are a taxi, or owning your own vehicle.  Indeed, the car is Tenerife’s primary method of transportation.

As in any country, lawmakers have dedicated considerable time and effort in legislating the use of private vehicles.  There seem to be more rules and regulations associated with driving than anything else, and ignorance is never a defence.  Licenses, points, paperwork, parking and pounds: cars can become a real money pit unless you get it all right.  The expatriate community is full of horror stories of vehicles impounded, huge fines imposed and unexpected liabilities.  Indeed, such tales circulate as commonly amongst the Spanish community too.  Driving is one of those things that many people would prefer to bury their head in the sand about.  Most often we don’t even realise that we are contravening the law until the law catches up with us, and then it is too late. 

The future for Tenerife transport, if the politicians get their way, is an ambitious rail network that will ring the island.  Despite environmental objections, the long term expectation is that the island’s population will continue to grow, and the infrastructure to deal with it needs to be planned for.  Rail links are only part of the package, which includes additions to the road and motorway systems, as well as a second runway in the south airport, Reina Sofia, and a large industrial port in Granadilla.  All of these plans have been on the table for some time, and only the future will tell which ones make it to reality.

Useful links about getting about in Tenerife

Download the current Titsa bus timetable and map showing all the bus routes

The tranvia tram service

The official Tenerife taxi rates