However well the pedestrian system may be functioning in Pontevedra, there is still work to be done on the outskirts of the city, while some argue that improvements are needed on the public transport network.
Pontevedra’s efforts to make the pedestrian king have clearly paid off, especially in the centre of the city. That said, improvements can always be made to any system – and the capital of Rias Baixas is no exception. For mayor Miguel Anxo Fernandez Lores, attention should be paid next to a gradual pedestrianisation of the outskirts of the city. Although some measures have already been implemented outside the centre, road traffic has increased on the outskirts by 30 % since 1999, in contrast to the falling numbers reported in the heart of the city.
Improving the public transport system may prove a tougher nut to crack, on the other hand. Public transport is the poor relation of the mobility issue in Pontevedra, with a modal share of just 4 %, but the desire exists to improve its standing. As Jacobo Moreira, a member of the centre-right Partido Popular and regional spokesman for the opposition, told the Faro de Vigo newspaper on 2 October: “It’s a benefit for all the residents of Pontevedra and a service that the city council is required to provide.”
The city council considers the public transport network to be “good”, meanwhile, but admits “it could be better”. It claims, however, that improvements will not be possible until jurisdictional issues have been resolved at various levels of community government. “In Spain, cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants are responsible for public transport,” explained Cesar Mosqueira Lourenzo, Pontevedra’s mobility advisor. “The situation in Pontevedra is complicated, though, because it is the community, not the city, which is responsible for it, with the community administration holding 20 or 30-year leases on certain lines. Those periods have yet to expire.”