Combined bus and train tickets from January 2007

Joan Collins THE Balearic Government yesterday paved the way for the introduction of a single bus and train ticket next January. The decree covering this was proposed by the Balearic Ministry of Public Works, and lays down the requirements which the companies holding public transport concessions must comply with for the introduction of this ticket. Joan Flaquer, the Balearic Government's spokesman, said yesterday that the changes to the ticket dispensing machines was under way and at the beginning of next year they will all have to be capable of dispensing the new single tickets. The decree says that all public transport vehicles must carry a machine, authorised by the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Transport, which will both dispense and cancel the tickets. The concessionary companies will have to let the administration install and initiate these machines or adapt their existing machines to the new system. The vehicles which carry these machines must be painted with the public transport colours and corporate logo. This must be done within two years of the decree coming into force. In addition to this, the regular service vehicles will have to have identification codes agreed by the Majorca Transport Consortium. These will have to be in place three months after the decree comes into force. The integrated tariff system will allow commuters to use the train, the bus and, in the future, the metro. The user will be able to move seamlessly from one form of transport to another. Before this happens, however, regular commuters in Palma will be in for a surprise, as from Monday, the provisional train station at Calle Jacint Verdaguer will be underground, giving the first experience of what the metro will be like.