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Gibraltar has a limited public transport system, due to the small size of the territory and the impact of the constitutional dispute with Spain.
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Gibraltar has 31 miles (49.9 km) of highways, all of which are paved. It has one of the highest levels of per capita car ownership in the world, with as many motor vehicles as people. Unlike the United Kingdom, traffic in Gibraltar drives on the right, as it shares a land border with Spain. Traffic formerly drove on the left; the change to driving on the right was made at 5.00 a.m. on 16 June 1929.
Roads in Gibraltar are fairly narrow, with a typical speed limit of 50 km/h. Gibraltar has ten fuelling stations, and fuel prices are lower than in the neighbouring country of Spain. Some people from nearby Spain even enter Gibraltar for the sole purpose of filling their cars\' fuel tanks.
A current Gibraltar rear number plate, featuring the GBZ country identifier under the European flag.
Gibraltar\'s international vehicle registration is GBZ, and Gibraltar car number plates consist of the letter \'G\' followed by a single letter and four digits (1000-9999). These are the same shape, type face and colours as those in the UK. The Chief Minister\'s official car has the registration number G1, while the Governor\'s car, following tradition, has a crown, in place of a number.
There are five bus routes in Gibraltar and buses run to most areas of the territory apart from the Upper Rock, which is a nature reserve. One bus company runs four routes, a second company runs the remaining one. Buses run regularly from the frontier/airport area to the city centre.
Additionally, taxis are available around the Rock. Many cater specifically to offer tours of the Upper Rock nature reserve. These can be picked up from the frontier or the city centre, where there are a number of taxi ranks.
There are no extant railways in Gibraltar. There was formerly an extensive railway within the Gibraltar Dockyard, and neighbouring works and storage facilities. It included tunnels, one of which went through the Rock of Gibraltar. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there was also a temporary industrial railway in Gibraltar. At the period when both railways were operational, it was possible to travel right round the entire coastline of Gibraltar by train. Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society, December 2003, pp 7-8, ptovide full details. The dockyard railway had a roster of 17 locomotives, distinguished by numbers, but four of which also carried names: Gibraltar, Catalan, Rosia, and Calpe.
Today the nearest railway station (in Spain) is "San Roque - La Línea" station on the RENFE line from Algeciras to Bobadilla Junction via Ronda. Until 1969 a ferry from Gibraltar provided convenient access to Algeciras station.
Gibraltar\'s Royal Navy base.
Being a peninsula, the sea has long been vital to Gibraltar\'s transport links. The Royal Naval Dockyard was formerly Gibraltar\'s major employer. There is still a harbour on the west side of the territory. The Gibraltar-registered merchant marine consists of 26 ships of 1000 tonnes and above. There was a direct regular fast ferry service to Tangiers, Morocco until 2003, but passengers must now travel from Algeciras or Tarifa.
Gibraltar airfield and border area. Showing runway (Gibraltar) and pier behind (Spain). Officially, any exact line is still disputed
Gibraltar Airport is the territory\'s only airport. It is situated very close to the border with Spain. The road to Spain crosses the runway, requiring the road to be closed each time an aircraft lands or takes off. Scheduled civilan passenger flights are operated by GB Airways (as British Airways), Monarch Airlines and Iberia.
Following an agreement signed in Cordoba between the Governments of the United Kingdom, Spain and Gibraltar in September 2006, the use of Gibraltar Airport by both Gibraltarian and Spanish services was agreed. Gibraltar Airport will be adapted to have an entrance from Spain (as well as Gibraltar), in a similar manner to Basel and Geneva airports (which are also adjacent to borders).
Iberia commenced direct flights between Madrid and Gibraltar on 16 December 2006, with GB Airways following on 1 May 2007. However, GB Airways discontinued their Madrid service on 30 September 2007 and Iberia is considering using smaller aircraft, possibly from its Air Nostrum regional partner—indicating that neither operator may have been able to fill their planes with passengers.
Following the takeover by EasyJet, GB Airways dropped its direct Gibraltar–Heathrow service on 2006-10-28Gibraltar News Online, GB Airways drop Gib-Heathrow route this Winter despite apparently remaining popular. The reason cited by GB Airways was the "convenience of" concentrating all its London services onto a single hub at Gatwick. Later, a sale of several of GB Airways\' Heathrow slots is believed to have netted GB Airways with up to £80mGibraltar News, GB Airways sells Heathrow slots for £80 million.
The following chart gives approximate travel times (in hours and minutes) to common city destinations from Gibraltar.
| Air | Road | Rail | Sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | | | | |
| Tangier | | | | |
| Málaga | | | | |
| Madrid | | | | |
Gibraltar\'s cable car.
A cable car runs from just south of the city centre to the Ape\'s Den and the Top of the Rock, which despite its name is actually the second highest peak of the Rock.
The road crossing into Spain was closed by the Spanish authorities from 1969. It was reopened for pedestrians in 1982 and for vehicles in 1985.
A ferry operated between Algeciras and Gibraltar until 1969. For a few months in 2004 Spain banned cruise ships which had visited Gibraltar from going to Spanish ports on the same journey. In 2003, the land frontier was closed for a day by Spain on the grounds that a visiting cruise liner, the MV Aurora, was affected by contagious food poisoning. MV Aurora - Fury over Gibraltar border closure No cases in Gibraltar were reported.
The airport is built on the isthmus which the Spanish Government claim not to have been ceded in the Treaty of Utrecht, thus the integration of Gibraltar Airport in the Single European Sky system has been blocked by Spain. The 1987 agreement for joint control of the airport with Spain was rejected by the then Government of Gibraltar. All successive Gibraltar governments have rejected it, although welcoming joint use of the airport (which being on the border could operate in a smilar manner to Geneva Airport or Basel Airport). Following the "Cordoba Agreement" (between the UK, Spain and Gibraltar) in 2006, the joint use of the airport was finally agreed.
The road crossing from Gibraltar into Spain can often be subject to long delays. A loop road is located next to the border to hold cars waiting in the queue to cross into Spain. Motorists (and sometimes pedestrians) crossing the border are randomly subjected to long delays and searches by the Spanish authorities. The Guardia Civil routinely search vehicles in the middle of the road, rather than directing suspect vehicles to a designated search area, thereby causing an obstruction to vehicles behind (in contrast to the checkpoint at the road crossing between Spain and Andorra).
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
