3.3: Current developments on the desired direction in Texel

The mobility of Texel wants to simulate the de-use of the car, both for the Texelaar and the tourists. This is in contrast with the new ferry that has been bought for the next year, which will have greater capacity to take more cars on board. And how do they stimulate the de-use of the car by only widening the roads for cycling and a public transport system? The vision of Texel tells about the value of calm and spatial environment on Texel. This is now very much disturbed by the broadening of the tourist season. The maximum number of cars has been determined and the peak months are broadening now. The cars are parked outside the villages, so the calm and spatial qualities are affected.

When we look at the intensity of the roads, the bus line and its stops, seems not connected properly with each other. The main road has bus line 28, this seems logical, but there are more intensively used roads and is does not look like these have a proper public transport solution. Besides this it took us a while before we find out that the Texelhopper is not only a bus you can book, but there is also a bus driving on Texel as a line bus. Because the bus is a pilot, the money you have to pay is not possible with the public transport card normally used in the Netherlands. The people who uses of the Texelhopper have to pay cash. We have been in contact with two citizens of Texel, both said; The service of the Texelhopper is not entirely clear. This contradicts the core value of Public transport; it should be clear and easy to use.

If we look at all the arguments in the vision for the mobility of Texel we can conclude it is the easy going mindset and habits of the the citizens and the way Texel want to offer reachability. If Texel wants to change the mobility they are in need to change the whole system. The biggest problem on Texel we are facing are the overload of cars with the result of busy roads and full parking lots. To tackle this story, the use of cars has to be less. We want to make Texel a fossil free Island; This means for the subsystem “how to get there”; An isolated transport system powered by local energy sources. In the next chapter we describe the vision of the future sub system.