Ábalos pointed out that the car is not a sustainable option, but that in the current situation it is one of the possible options. In their view, in order to avoid agglomerations, the public transport offer should be multiplied by three, as buses and meters are occupied by one third. The Spanish Government has no capacity to triple the transport infrastructure, and that is why it has proposed the use of cars, among other measures.

Greenpeace and Environmentalists in Action have been against the statements of the Spanish Government’s Minister of Transport and Public Works. Although the easiest measure to avoid agglomerations during decontainment is the use of cars, they consider it to be the most harmful to the environment. The Public Journal records the statements of Adrián Fernández, responsible for the mobility of Greenpeace: “No government should drive the use of the car, even less when the relationship between respiratory tract diseases caused by COVID-19 and pollution has been demonstrated.”

Model Europe

Ekologistak Martxan has modelled the measures put in place by other European states. “In Milan and Paris, for example, priority has been given to the transport of pedestrians and bicycles. Transport must be promoted according to sustainability, i.e. walking, cycling and public transport in this order,” said Nuria Blázquez, responsible for the mobility of Ekologistak Martxan.

Minister @abalosmeco, betting on the private car to get out of the crisis will involve:

1⃣ Increased pollution.

2⃣ CO2 increase.

3⃣ Increased congestion.

4⃣ More accidents and trends.

Less space for people.

6⃣ Worsening human health. pic.twitter.com/4RONc7nsVb

— Ecologists in Action (@ecologists) April 28, 2020

The Greenpeace people also think the same and add that the car is the “non-efficient” means of transport: “It is the one that occupies the most space and the one that most people reject. There is not enough space if public transport users move to private transport."

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition of Spain, for its part, has announced that it will opt for the bicycle as a means of transport. In particular, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has sent a letter to the mayors of over 5,000 inhabitants of the Spanish State proposing measures to promote the use of bicycles, such as expanding bicycle delivery services, building free bicycle parking, creating bicycle infrastructures, etc.

Risk of return

Several voices have said that decontainment is an opportunity to reduce pollution rates around the world. During the lockdown there has been a significant decrease, because the influx of people has also been affected. However, more and more experts say that the destruction of nature is directly related to the pandemic and that the subsequent shock offers an opportunity to turn around the destruction.

That has not been the case in China. Public transport in the country affected by the virus has suffered stigma and the use of private transport has doubled: In the Asian giant, it's gone from 34 percent to 66 percent. These are worrying data for ecologists, but very rewarding for car manufacturers. They have also expressed this in Europe, where the European Vehicle Association (ESMA) has called on governments to withdraw emission tests in order to reduce production costs and recover losses.