The decision to construct the Manacor – Artà railway is based on a study made only on the Palma – Inca route.

The study cost 60 million pesetas and was based on only 290 questionnaires that were correctly answered.

In 2001 the company INECO presented to the Gobierno de las Islas Baleares the “Study of transport for the island of Mallorca and of alternative means of transport to link Palma with the UIB”. This study fue offered in 2000 (BOIB núm 56 4-5-2000) at 60 million of the old currency, pesetas. The Plan de Transporte Ferroviario de Baleares was based on the results of this study as described in page 71 in section III previous studies, to plan the new railway lines that are now being realised.

To undertake the Estudio de Movilidad de la Isla de Mallorca (INECO 2001) the investigation was only centralised on the residents of the Palma – Inca route, regardless of whether they were users of the railways or not. 567 questionnaires were returned, of which only 452 were correctly filled out. Although, once sorted, the sample study was based on 290 provident questionnaires on the Palma – Inca route to analyse the transport for the whole island of Mallorca (page 63-64).

In this study it was asked if one would prefer a train for public transport or investment in roads. Nevertheless the question was aimed at extending the railway to Inca and to Manacor; there was no mention or reference to any extensions to Artà or to Alcúdia. The answers were 62,7% in favour of extending the railway to Inca and to Manacor, 10,9% to invest in roads, 19,4% in favour of both options and 7,4% unsure (page 71).

Regarding the favourable option to extend the existing railway (62,7%), to Manacor, the highest percentage was from the Palma – Sierra Norte (north mountains) (71,2%) (page 71). Even though the question was centred on the route from Palma – Inca.

According to the Estudio de Movilidad de la Isla de Mallorca (INECO 2001) the highest transport needs per resident (over the age of 12) is on the Palma – Santanyí route, 14% higher than the highest average in the study area (page 44).

With the exception of Sóller (29.980) and the Sierra Norte (17.402), Palma – Periferia Levante hasthe lowest percentage of transport needs (82.695), which represents 5,9% of the total. Most of the trips are made on the Palma Interior Vía Cintura (Palma inner ring road) (430.277, 30,9%), Palma Exterior Vía Cintura (outer ring road) (241.469, 17,3%) and Palma – Inca – Alcúdia (203.818, 14,6%). Palma – Andratx produces 107.402 trips, 7,7% of the total, and Palma – Santanyí produces 96.141 trips, 6,9% of the total.

The Palma – Inca – Alcúdia route, where the most public transport is in operation, is where the people use it least. Only 22,9% use it frequently, 24% sometimes and 53,1% hardly ever use it (page 69).

The “hardly ever use” public transport represents a much higher percentage (62,3%) in relation to frequent users (17,7%) and “sometimes use it” (18,1%) on most of the island. The number of minor usage, being higher than average, is found in the Palma – Sierra Norte, Palma – Andratx, Palma interior Vía Cintura, Palma – Manacor y Palma – Periféricos de Levante routes.

The principal reasons for the low usage is that the private vehicle is more comfortable (44,3%), that there are few bus routes and that they are infrequent (page 69).

75,8% of the questioned responded that they would prefer improvements to the roads and 24,2% would prefer the construction of motorways. To the question of whether they would prefer better roads or better public transport, 25,1% said they would prefer better roads, 30,7% better public transport and 40,2% both (page 70).

The Anti Train Association believes that the cost and the land usage needed for the Artá railway is not justified.

After having analysed the transport study for the Island of Mallorca from which the Plan de transportes ferroviarios justifies the railway route for Artà, Cala Millor and Cala Rajada, the Anti Train Association ratifies that the project to reopen the railway to Artà is not justified in any way. For a start it shows that the study is not significant, because it was centred on the resident between Palma – Inca, not the residents in the Llevant region. Also, the numbers questioned is very low, and even then shows the transport in the Llevant region to be less.