Traffic on the A22 declined further in the second quarter last year, but far less so than in the same period of 2012, according to the quarterly report from the Algarve’s transport and regional development body, the CCDRA.
On the A22, the decrease of average daily traffic by a further 5.6%, against a 52.2% drop in 2012 leads the reporters to imagine that this is some sort of miraculous recovery which Q.3 2012 will reveal in all its glory.
The same situation was repeated on the main motorwway to the north where there was a decrease in traffic, but not as marked a decline as in 2012. Here the drop was 2.8% compared to a fall of 30.3% in 2012.
This is the 11th consecutive quarter in which both the motorway linking Lisbon to the Algarve and the trans-Algarve A22 have recorded decreases in traffic.
Intercity rail passenger numbers were up 0.7% compared to the same period of 2012 as the cheap, fast and clean service to and from the north carried more than 1.5 million passengers.
The number of users of the Linea do Algarve rail service was about the same as in 2012 despite the state of the toilets, but still way down from the pre-crisis level.
As for air traffic numbers the figures are no longer available as the new French owners of Portugal’s airports management company ANA has ‘suspended’ the release of information relating to number of flights, passengers and passengers to and from national airports, "we can not at present continue the monitoring on the dynamics of air transport,” commented CCDRA.
