Ibiza residents now have very few slots left to travel to Formentera by motorbike this summer

A month has now passed since the booking system for the environmental programme Formentera.eco was launched, and there are already very few places left for Ibiza residents who want to travel to the southern Pityusic island by motorbike during the regulation period. Specifically, for the months of June, July, August and September, between 50% and 74% of the 50 daily places reserved for residents of the neighbouring island who want to ride this type of vehicle around Formentera have already been taken.

In addition, over the weekend of 18 and 19 July and on 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 August, occupancy is already between 75% and 99%, meaning that the places available to travel on those dates are very close to selling out.

The Consell de Formentera says that this situation, with the quota of 50 motorbikes for Ibiza residents fully booked for most of the summer, has been repeated for years.

Law 7/2019, of 8 February, on the environmental and economic sustainability of the island of Formentera, establishes in Article 4 that the quota reserved for vehicles belonging to Ibiza residents must be determined by “historical influx data”, in order to ensure that it is sufficient. In other words, the arrival and circulation of both motorbikes and cars belonging to residents of the neighbouring island should not be prevented, even if the cap established for them is exceeded.

In an attempt to prevent this from happening, Sa Unió’s governing team already increased the quota last year from 20 to 50 motorbikes and from 220 to 235 cars, an expansion that was not welcomed by the political opposition or by social sectors that advocate an overall reduction in vehicle circulation in Formentera.

Visitor motorbikes

If the quotas set during the months in which the regulations apply become full, the alternative suggested by the Consell would be to use the quota established for visitor motorbikes, which this year repeats last year’s figures and is set at 122 motorbikes per day.

Although tourists included in that specific quota do have to pay the established fee — three euros per day, with a minimum of 15 euros for June and September, and 4.50 euros per day, with a minimum of 22.50 euros in July and August — Ibiza residents would be exempt from payment, as are all other residents of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands.

This quota of 50 motorbikes and 235 cars does not include workers from Ibiza who have to travel to Formentera during the summer season, as this group has its own authorisation and does not count towards the maximum cap.

The launch of this year’s Formentera.eco environmental project has not been without controversy. Following the established procedure, last January the governing team presented two proposals for applying the regulations to the Consell d’Entitats, so that representatives of the island’s associations and organisations could choose their preferred option.

For the first time since the project was launched in 2019, the two proposals were not based on reducing the total cap on authorised vehicles, but instead proposed distributing the quotas according to environmental criteria in order to reduce the presence of the most polluting vehicles on Formentera’s roads.

Same quotas as in 2025

This initiative did not receive the necessary social backing, and the associations and political groups that are members of the Consell d’Entitats showed their disagreement by abstaining in large numbers during the vote to choose one of the two options presented by the councillor for Mobility, Verónica Castelló.

After a consultation period between the Consell, business representatives and residents’ associations, a new vote was held, with the winning option being to maintain the same occupancy figures set for the 2025 season while the island institution works on new proposals for next year.

As a result, the overall cap on motor vehicles authorised to enter, circulate and park in Formentera between 1 June and 30 September this year is also 10,287. Of these, visitors have a quota of 1,732 cars and 122 motorbikes, including workers who are not resident in Formentera.

As for residents of Ibiza, the entry and circulation of 235 cars and 50 motorbikes is permitted each day, as already mentioned above.