Without a car you are nothing in the Algarve

Users of public transport and people who wish to enjoy smooth mobility in the Algarve do not have the space or the means to assert their rights. The region is structured to have a car, private or rented as the main means of transportation.

The Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve - Amal - announced this Monday a project for the region. A proposal to put the 16 chambers of the region to think, together, to define an intermodal transport policy, using new technologie.

On May 18 and 19, at the international Algarve Autodrome in Portimão, the 'smart region project' will be presented, involving more than 40 partners in the areas of new technologies - from Google to regional companies such as Visualforma and Algardata.

During the presentation of the site where the news on mobility for the region can be found, the mayor of Portimão, Isilda Gomes, highlighted the importance of the initiative, recalling the efforts of the municipalities to become a region and not just a summary of 16 Camaras. "It seems to me that the time has come for the Government to give the Algarve a booze," she emphasized. The Algarve has a transport problem, for instance the lack of a connection from Faro airport to the city, by rail is just one example of the absence of a regional transport plan.

The president of Amal, Jorge Botelho, stressed that the municipalities have, in the next three years, 25 million euros to innovate in the areas of mobility, public transport and digital governance. The first step, he said, was with the recognition of Amal as a regional authority responsible for articulating public road transport. The question of the connection to the airport to Faro, by train, recognized, remains in an impasse. "What the Minister of Planning and Infrastructure Pedro Marques told us is that the work was dependent on the outcome of an environmental impact study that has not yet been done."