La Laguna University in Tenerife has reached an agreement with the island authorities to modify the start times of many of its classes to ease traffic congestion on the notorious TF-5 motorway.
Gridlocked traffic on the motorway almost every day during the morning rush hour is a fact of life for thousands of vehicles traveling from towns in the north of the island towards La Laguna and Santa Cruz.
Various unsuccessful attempts have been made in recent years to persuade major institutions such as the university and, in particular, the big hospitals located between the two cities, to modify their operating hours to take a sizeable number of vehicles off the road to help traffic flow more smoothly.
After three months of discussions, the island’s governing Cabildo – which is responsible for traffic management on Tenerife’s main roads – and bosses at La Laguna University have reached a deal under which nine faculties are to put back the start times of classes for a total of thirteen degree programmes involving nearly 3000 thousand students, many of whom drive to the campus.
In some cases, classes will be put back to 9.30 and even to 12.30 for some courses. The staggering of classes means that congestion will also be eased later in the day as students in cars will not longer coincide with staff and users exiting the two hospitals a few kilometres down the motorway.
The agreement comes on the heels of various other joint initiatives by the Cabildo and the university to reduce car use by students, 30-40% of whom are thought to travel by private vehicle.
Last year saw an increase in the number of special buses laid on by the island’s publicly-owned bus company TITSA to ferry students to La Laguna University every day from towns in both north and south Tenerife (La Orotava, Adeje, Los Cristianos, San Isidro, Güímar and Candelaria).
