Car ban plan for Alicante’s Santa Barbara castle on the Costa Blanca

PRIVATE cars could be banned from going up to the Santa Barbara castle in Alicante.
The city council’s Culture department overseen by the councillor Antonio Manresa is according to Spanish media drawing up a plan to restrict the access of individuals up to the bastion with the aim of preserving the heritage value of the historic complex and preventing its deterioration.
The idea is to launch an alternative system for getting up to the castle, and specifically a shuttle service provided by minibuses of a maximum six metres in length and with 22 passenger places, which would provide a regular connection between the city centre and the monument.
The service already functions periodically to transfer tourists coming in to Alicante port on cruise ships up to the Benacantil mountain.
The start of the restrictions could be approved in January or February next year, although there would likely be a minimum three-month transition period to allow visitors to adapt to the new situation.
What is envisaged is that access would be barred to vehicles, with the exception of taxis, official vehicles for special events, cleaning service vehicles and catering industry delivery vans.
The price of the minibus service would reportedly be in line with that of the lift service, which would continue to function. In terms of minibus frequency, this would be adapted to demand according to the time of year.
Therefore there would be more buses between the spring and autumn when there are the greatest number of tourists.