Menorca will limit the number of vehicles on the island to 120,000, prioritizing residents.
The control, which will be carried out through cameras and license plate records, will be concentrated between June and September.
PalmMenorca will limit the number of vehicles allowed on the island at one time to 120,000, including those belonging to residents—for whom no limit will be set—and those belonging to visitors, which vary each year depending on the number of cars owned by Menorcans.
Assuming that the trends of recent years continue, it is expected that on peak days in 2025 the number of vehicles will exceed 123,000—87,000 belonging to residents and the rest to visitors, as explained in a press conference by Pau Pol, one of the authors of the study. If the 120,000 limit were applied this year, vehicle entry on the island could be reduced by 9%, to around 33,000.
Based on the study by the consultancy firm Cinesi—which also drafted the report on Mallorca—the Menorca Council will draft regulations to effectively control the entry of vehicles. The regulations will be completed within six to 12 months, according to the island's Minister for Mobility, Juan Manuel Delgado.
The controls, which will be carried out through cameras and license plate records, will initially be concentrated between the months of June and September, when there is greater mobility, although the dates may vary from year to year depending on the data and needs. "We will implement the measures and proposals of the study with rigor and planning. This study allows us to make what until now were only intentions a reality: regulating the entry of vehicles on the island, protecting residents and ensuring a balance between economic activity and sustainability," said the President of the Council, Adolfo Vilafranca.
No limit for residents
The approximately 100,000 Menorcan residents will not have a maximum quota for the time being. Instead, the limit will be set only for vehicles arriving from outside the island, to which higher rates will also apply, both for private use (around 60%) and rental vehicles (40%).
Currently, according to the load study, 86,023 vehicles in Menorca belong to residents, but calculations suggest that this figure could reach 87,000 this year. Of the vehicles from outside Menorca, around 80% are cars and 20% are motorcycles, not counting motorhomes, which have limited reservations, subject to the availability of spaces at the island's campsites.
Busiest week: August 5-11
However, there is a downward trend in the average stay of tourists in Menorca, causing them to move more around the island, often coinciding with other visitors in locations and times. By municipality, Maó receives twice as many travelers as Sant Lluís, followed by Ciutadella; and by month, July and August represent 150% of the annual averages.
The busiest week of 2024 was August 5-11, with 54% of trips corresponding to residents, 29% to national tourists, and 17% to foreigners, according to data from mobile companies.
At this time, the maximum of 122,170 vehicles on the island was reached, representing a surplus of 2,170. If the cap had already been implemented, the entry of 6% of those arriving by boat would have been prevented.
More and better public transport
The load study collects data on resident and tourist mobility from mobile phone operators, the state of public transport, the taxi and VTC fleet, the evolution of the vehicle fleet, and entry and exit times through the ports of Mahon and Ciutadella, as detailed by Pol.
to implement proposals from the technicians who prepared the study. The key is to increase and improve public transport so that its use continues to grow, but other measures will also be taken: development of urban mobility plans and traffic-generating centers, real-time information on road and parking conditions, expansion of rental and car fleets, which are worse than the Spanish average.
The Cinesi engineer, who was also part of the team that conducted the same traffic load study in Mallorca, emphasized that the situation in Menorca is better, although the vehicle rate per capita is still far above the national average. Furthermore, Mallorca has more and more frequent congestion points than the roads in Menorca, such as the Palma ring road, which is congested year-round and not just in summer, and which is in a "more critical" situation than the Menorcan road, according to Pol.
