The Cabildo of Lanzarote has allocated more than 17.5 million euros from own funds between 2022 and 2025 to guarantee the gratuity of public transport on the island, assuming the greater part of the cost in the face of insufficient state funding.
The data reflects that, despite the existence of state funding lines, the actual contribution has not covered the cost of the system, forcing the island Institution to sustain with its own resources most of the bonuses applied to users.
The breakdown by annuities evidences this imbalance. In 2025, for example, the free system reached a total cost exceeding 9.5 million euros, of which more than 7.4 million were directly assumed by the Cabildo. A situation that is repeated in previous years, such as in 2024 where the total was more than 8 million euros and the island Institution covered almost 6.5 million euros, consolidating a trend in which the island administration bears the bulk of the economic effort.
The president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, explained that “the free transport has not been interrupted at any moment because the Cabildo has responded with its own resources, guaranteeing an essential service for the citizenry”. In this regard, he stressed that “Lanzarote has had to assume most of the cost while state funding has not arrived in proportion to the reality of the system”.
The Minister of Transport and Mobility, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, explained that “free travel has changed mobility habits in Lanzarote, with increasingly frequent use of public transport, which has forced the system to adapt to growing demand”.
The impact of this policy is evident in the use of public transport. In 2025, 8.28 million passengers were reached, with sustained growth since 2022, when just over 5.1 million were registered. This growth has positioned public transport as a structural mobility option on the island.
To respond to this demand, the Cabildo has significantly expanded the service, with an 86% increase in the number of drivers since 2022 and a 20% increase in the vehicle fleet, in addition to the incorporation of new lines, improvements in frequencies, and reinforcement of strategic connections.
Despite this context of growth and service improvement, the Cabildo de Lanzarote continues to assume a financial burden much higher than initially foreseen, maintaining the gratuity of transport as a structural measure without there being a state coverage adjusted to the real volume of the system on the island.