“My family lives 500 meters away and I take the car to go see them.”

PalmFreedom and abuse: these are two of the words used by witnesses who have spoken about their relationship with cars. The Balearic Islands have approximately one vehicle for each of their 1,231,768 inhabitants (cars, motorcycles, vans, etc.), a ratio that reaches 1.1 in Mallorca. The authorities are pushing to limit the entry of rental vehicles, but experts are calling for bolder action: without measures that affect residents and, therefore, the votes that political parties will receive in elections, there will be no real change.

Catian is an example of the role private vehicles play in mobility in the Balearic Islands. She lives in Son Verí Nou (Llucmajor) and uses her car every day. "I feel freer and more comfortable. Plus, it's faster," she says, but at the same time, she admits that she has lost a lot of time in traffic jams on the outskirts of Palma. She then argues that public transport is always full and she doesn't want to travel standing up. She also points out that she uses her car for journeys she could make on foot. "My family lives 500 meters from my house, and I take the car to go see them," she says. She believes there are a number of inherited prejudices about the importance of the car and laments that, when she goes to Palma, "the highway is full of vehicles with only one person in each"—approximately 200,000 vehicles travel the Inca-Palma highway section up to Son Hugo every day, according to figures published by ARABar.

Joana Maria Seguí, Professor of Human Geography at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), points out that "the car is associated with a kind of liberation and a desire for individuality," an idea that "could be justified to some extent before the 1973 oil crisis." "Afterwards, when the car population grew the most, it began to be unsustainable for many reasons," she adds, recalling that it was at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit that sustainability was first discussed. Since then, "instead of rationalizing car use, it has increased." Seguí laments that in the Balearic Islands there are "families of four who can own up to three cars" and emphasizes that the overabundance of private vehicles in the Islands "clashes with the urban structure of towns and cities," which is not designed for vehicular traffic. She cites the walled city of Palma and its medieval layout as an example.

Regarding the causes of this situation, Seguí points to a very important one: "The increase in per capita income and the tourism development that has generated it has not been accompanied by the development of public transport." "Motorization is associated with the car/road pairing, not with public transport," he reiterates, also emphasizing that public policies in this regard were nonexistent until the 1990s. However, between that decade and 2021, "the population increased by more than 60%," an increase that raised the number of cars.

"Without a car, you're dead here," says Andrés, a worker from Córdoba, who speaks to ARA Baleares with his car parked on the sidewalk in front of the Rotger Clinic in Palma. He works in Manacor and, although he could get there by train, he prefers to use his car to better adapt to his flexible work schedule. "It's true that it's overused, but the lack of public services has contributed to it," he says. Regarding the ideas they associate with the vehicle, Andrés lists three: "Freedom, security, and peace of mind."

David Abril, Professor of Sociology at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), points out that the car is an object with "a lot of symbolic weight." "In a consumer society, it has social status," he continues, emphasizing that the organization of mobility in the Balearic Islands "primarily facilitates private transport." In a precarious society, "without access to many things," the car "offers a dream of freedom." "Tourism has fostered the idea of moving freely in the Islands: if tourists can do it, why can't workers? Now they want to start regulating the car rental industry, but we're late to the party," he continues. Regarding the display of status, the sociologist highlights that it is relatively easy to obtain a personal loan to "buy a car that doesn't correspond to your social class," unlike what happens with mortgages. "Just look at the people washing their cars at gas stations on a Sunday," he adds.

Leaving the private vehicle behind

Trying to reach Palma first thing in the morning, any weekday during the off-season, makes it clear that Mallorca's mobility problems, and those of the Balearic Islands as a whole, go far beyond tourism. "When people talk about congestion, they only mention restricting rental cars as the sole solution. It's ridiculous and insufficient, a convenient and superficial way to address the problem," criticizes Aina Llauger, a member of the GOB Board of Directors. "Everything related to cars is so deeply ingrained that it's very difficult to get the problem off the ground," she insists. In fact, Llauger emphasizes that simply replacing gasoline vehicles with hybrids or electric ones isn't a solution either. "The revolution isn't the electric car, but rather leaving the car behind. Using public transport, cycling, and walking," she says, adding that we also need to "change the concept of ownership to that of service" and embrace measures like carpooling with others if it's truly necessary. "We need to change our mindset about the idea that cars give us freedom. Furthermore, we've caused a lot of damage in the name of freedom. We accept limitations in other areas, but it seems that we can't do that with cars," he adds.

Cities like London already charge "a spectacular fee" for driving into the city center, notes Joana Maria Seguí. The problem is that "any measure that imposes a tax on car use costs a lot of votes." "You have to be brave when the situation demands it," she says, emphasizing that restrictions will be useless if they aren't accompanied by improvements to public transportation. "If we're talking about individual car use and habit, we have to look at why we've reached this point of congestion. This habit has been accompanied by a historical lack of public transportation," she says.

Until the 1990s, "no thought was given to how the people who worked in hotels would get around," a large part of which were located on the coast, Seguí explains. "A public transportation system for these people, the workers and the resident population who commuted to Palma every day, was never considered," she continues. "It only started to be considered very late, and everything has been done very recently, from twenty years ago until now," she adds.

The lack of public transport is the reason Dani cites for driving to work. "I have to go to areas that aren't well connected," he says, adding that he always uses public transport in his free time—he lives in Santa Maria. "With the car, I can get to places I couldn't reach otherwise. I use public transport when I can, but with the car I feel more independent," he remarks.

In contrast, Peter and his wife decided that their family—they have two children, aged eight and six—would do without a private vehicle as a result of the pandemic: "We hardly used it. I thought that if we could go months without it, we really didn't need it." This decision freed him from the expenses of fuel and insurance, as well as the hassle of finding parking. He gave up the car four years ago and doesn't miss it. "My wife takes the bus with the children, and we also have a bicycle." longtail [which allows carrying people and cargo]. In the summer we've done routes of up to 40 kilometers and the children were thrilled. They didn't want to go in the car," he explains. Contrary to the other witnesses, Peter feels freer without a car. "In the Islands it's excessive. I have many friends from elsewhere who don't even have a license, and you don't have to go very far. Here we've already taken it for granted and we make journeys for which the car isn't necessary. To give it up, you have to make an effort," he adds.

However, Seguí calls for measures that correspond to the complexity of the problem. For example, working towards multifunctional neighborhoods so that people don't have to leave their immediate surroundings to go shopping or to school. That's why, in addition to mobility measures, we have to think about "structural" initiatives, functions to fulfill," continues Seguí, convinced that "there's no other option but to relegate the car to the sidelines."

On the other hand, measures such as free public transport can help change citizens' habits. "Free public transport and improved bus frequencies have increased its use, but much more needs to be done," says David Abril, who also urges institutions "not to send contradictory messages" regarding reducing private vehicle use, such as "the campaign against electric scooters and the loss of bike lanes." "It's very difficult to create a culture, and then obstacles are put in its way," he laments.