Designing Public Transportation Services for Car‐Dependent Rural Destinations: An Application in the Case of the Ebro Delta (Spain)

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a method for developing alternative transportation policies in car‐dependent rural areas, supporting the United Nations' decarbonisation goals and aiming to mitigate the impacts of drive‐tourism in sensitive regions. After analysing tourist travel patterns, examining the proliferation of parking lots, identifying key tourist infrastructure, and cataloguing the existing public transport network in a case study of the Ebro Delta, we suggest two strategies to reduce reliance on private vehicles. The first involves introducing a new circular hop‐on hop‐off bus service for tourists, linking the primary tourist assets. The second strategy enhances and enlarges existing regular public transport by covering essential tourist areas through transfers. Both strategies integrate with the current bicycle lane network, connecting key tourist locations. This research offers a practical example of designing tourism mobility policies in rural destinations and yields insights into designing tourist‐focused public transport in similar areas.