EDITORIAL

GOVERNMENT or council legislation can take years to introduce...or in some cases just weeks. A classic example is the “Sightseeing” Palma bus service introduced overnight and without the full support of everyone. As a result of the rushed council policy the taxi drivers take the law into their own hands and take two of the buses “hostage” claiming that they were destroying their livelihood. What started off as a good but rather expensive idea (tickets cost 13 euros) has now become yet another tourist service dogged by controversy. Surely the city council didn't believe that the taxi drivers would welcome the “sightseeing tour” with open arms. Why weren't the cabbies consulted first or if they were why wasn't there consensus on the route. “Tourists trapped on Sightseeing bus” read the headline in one British tabloid yesterday. Yes, Majorca scores yet another own goal. It is not the job of the media to tell politicians how to do their job (although we do waste thousands of inches of column space on doing so!) but the sightseeing bus is another example of a service introduced rapidly because the clock was ticking. That is evident because it is rather unusual to introduce tourist services as the summer season is drawing to a close. So now we must go back to square one and the city council are going to have to sit down with the taxi drivers and the operators of the bus service. Perhaps all will be well come September, the rainy season in Majorca. A word of advice to the council: next time introduce new tourist services in April so that all problems can be ironed out before the summer season gets into full swing.