Are there too many cars on the road in Lanzarote?

In March of 2023 it was reported that 138,687 were registered on the roads of Lanzarote, equalling 888 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants! This is up from from 93,123 back in 2022. The current vehicle density per inhabitant is on par with the likes of the city of Barcelona!

Studies show a huge increase number of vehicles on the Lanzarote roads in just 12 months

As the number of residents grows, and the foot fall through the César Manrique Airport increases, it's inevitable that the number of cars on the road, including hire cars, will also experience growth. But just how damaging is this to the environment here on the island?

60% of energy consumed on the island of Lanzarote relates to land based traffic. It could be argued that, due to housing issues and lack of late night transport links to the resort of Playa Blanca, that transport by private car is essential to get to work or connect with certain parts of the island, but the increase in cars, and therefore emissions is starting to take its toll, not only on the environment but also the current infrastructure. It is reported that a minimum of 50% of harmful greenhouse gases are produced by vehicles.

So what about electric vehicles? Sadly, the increase in vehicles on the island is not reflected by much of an increase in Electric Vehicles, and you could argue that the islands infrastructure isn't yet ready to make a large change towards electric vehicles. But at the current rate, there needs to be a plan to move away from harmful vehicle emissions and make a transition to cleaner energy sources.

The public transport in certain parts of the island is extremely good. Busses are clean, air conditioned and generally keep good time, but certain, more remote, parts of the island - including the busy resort of Playa Blanca - are let down by the lack of a late connection with busses ceasing to operate around 10pm. Therefore, after this time the only way to get between towns and resorts is by taxi or private car.

Visitor numbers to the Lanzarote attractions continue to rise

The Lanzarote attractions operated by CACT have also seen a huge increase in visitor numbers in 2022, resulting in long queues of cars at the likes of the Timanfaya National Park. Of course, it is possible to avoid this situation by booking an organised excursion, where coaches have priority over the cars and can pass the queue for immediate entry. These simple conveniences could take 1000´s of cars off the roads if holidaymakers were to make use of the excursions rather than making their own way around the island, however, the freedom to come and go as you please in a private hire car, despite long queues, is something that some might find hard to part with.

Check out the rest of our website for some of the best things to do in Lanzarote, whilst beating the queues!

For the future, the island needs to look at more sustainable ways to allow efficient and cost effective site wide transport, without relying on vehicles that are harming the environment of our beautiful Lanzarote.