Calvia and Andratx bus dispute over, normal service today

Tourist and residents in Calvia and Andratx will breath a sigh of relief today when they see the public bus services return to normal after a deal was reached yesterday between striking bus drivers and the unions to return to work while a solution is negotiated with the management of the public transport companies Autocares Andratx and Catalina Marqués. Since June 7, over a week ago, people in Calvia and Andratx have been left with no public transport service and over the past few days have resorted to hitch-hiking in a bid to get to work on time. The taxi fleets were far from enough to meet demand and in some cases tourists either could not afford to catch taxis everywhere or complained that they were being overcharged. The unions intend to open talks with the bus companies from Monday and items on the agenda will be the improvement of the buses, better pay for overtime and better working hours. The end of the bus strike, which has seen tensions flare at times, will also come as relief to the Balearic government which already has a taxi dispute on its hands. Palma taxi drivers, who have left the city and the airport with no taxis for a period of four hours, on four separate occasions over the past ten days, are planning a further eight hours of protest at Palma airport tomorrow - its busiest day of the week.