Soller in the spotlight: Donkeys, parking dramas, and shuttle bus dreams

The facts, if anyone is interested in them, are simple. The Town Hall are trying to devise a low emission zone in the centre of Soller. This affects local and hire cars. This will necessitate some street rearrangements, residents parking zones and new car parks. This is not groundbreaking science and is certainly not unique. Towns and cities all over the world are doing exactly the same thing. The way the UK media are portraying this is as if the Soller tunnel is going to lock everybody out, and they are no longer welcome. What absolute rubbish talk is that. Isn’t there enough news to report without going for obvious fake news?

New schuttle bus

Bus routes and shuttle buses occupy chatter in Soller on a regular basis. We all know the buck passing which goes on between Town Hall and the Ministry of Transport. The fact is that our wonderful bus services are easily accessible to half the population. The other half have to drive to a bus stop and park nearby. The call for shuttle buses to pick up on the other side of town and up to Biniaraix has gone on for all the years I have lived here. Talk, talk, talk, means we are sick of the words. Guess what? This week Deya announced the introduction of a shuttle bus to move round the streets and end at the Deya beach. Just like that, job done! All those who have been begging for a bus stop at the Repic end of Puerto Soller beach are incredulous, if it can happen in Deya why not in Soller is the question?

Online booking only

High end dining has come to Soller with booking systems. New restaurants are encouraging making reservations online and leaving a credit card number to deduct a deposit in the case of a no-show. This is obviously part of the business plan, and many are happy to oblige. This became an issue in Soller this week when a local customer went into a restaurant to make a reservation and was turned away to make the booking online. What a mistake that was, as the customer in question wasted no time in telling all who would listen what bad practice this was. All the subsequent chatter said the same thing. By all means have a booking system, but have it in addition to normal, polite customer service and knowledge of your local customers. Not everyone can or will book online. Are you really going to turn them away? Small town Soller is not central Madrid, Barcelona, London or New York.

Donkeys are coming

Six donkeys are earmarked for Soller in the coming months. A total of six donkeys will be released into the torrents of Soller in a new initiative which aims to improve control of the vegetation. This is a joint experimental initiative between the Soller City Council and the Natura Parc foundation in the urban sections of the municipality’s streams. The cleaning campaign will run from May to September with the aim of “improving the urban sections of the streams in a more sustainable way”. All due to start on May 3rd, 2025.

If a shepherd looks after sheep what is the collective word for the ‘donkey keeper’ who looks after them? The ‘Donkey Herder’ is one suggestion but does anyone out there know an official title? The children of Soller are going to be very tempted by the presence of six donkeys in an accessible torrent. The ‘Donkey Herder’ is going to be busy keeping the donkey rides to a minimum…