The Cabildo of Lanzarote, through its Department of Transport and Mobility, managed by the first vice president of the Corporation, José Juan Cruz, is launching the campaign ¡Practica guagüismo: déjate llevar! (Practice guagüismo: let yourself go!), an initiative whose purpose is to expand the number of users of intercity public transport and the loyalty of existing ones.
During the morning of this Thursday, José Juan Cruz, accompanied by the coordinator of the Transport and Mobility service of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Begoña Pérez, has appeared before the media to announce the details of the dissemination plan that will last until the end of August.
In that sense, the first vice president of the Cabildo insisted that the Department of Transport and Mobility is carrying out a global work that leads to an efficient and inclusive service.
"This campaign complements all the actions we have undertaken with which we intend to connect all the population centers of the island, and make public transport a useful and affordable tool. That all citizens can make use of this service regardless of their physical or socioeconomic condition."
The Cabildo has increased the economic item to 500,000 euros to subsidize the established rates. From June 12, students who prove that they reside on the island will have a fifty percent discount, as well as people with disabilities greater than or equal to 30 percent and their companions. Similarly, information mechanisms have been installed to facilitate the use of the service to people with sensory and hearing disabilities. The implementation of this system, a pioneer in the Canary Islands and the third at the state level, involved the disbursement of 177,000 euros.
For her part, the service coordinator pointed out that currently the intercity public transport buses connect 57 centers and travel 11,500 kilometers each day on the round trips of their 35 lines, and has 346 stops.
She also indicated that this is a novel campaign that aims to draw the attention of users using two words that until now did not exist, "guagüista" and "guagüismo", associating them with island public transport.
"We have requested the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) that the term "guagüismo", coined by the Cabildo of Lanzarote, be considered, and refer to the attitude or condition of the person who habitually uses the public buses of the Canary Islands, since it conforms to the morphological guidelines of Spanish."
This strategy will be disseminated in the media, through brochures, posters, and advertising signs on intercity buses, attached to the Cabildo of Lanzarote, and on one of the lines of Arrecife, thanks to the support of the Mobility Council of the Consistory of the capital, in the hands of Inodelvia Torres. All this will serve to reinforce information on the routes, schedules and possibilities offered by this public service.
In recent years, the number of users of public transport has increased, José Juan Cruz indicated that, according to data from the first quarter, 2017 could close with a historical figure exceeding four million guagüistas.