A group of taxi drivers. Not all are antagonistic towards the bus services. | Teresa Ayuga
Palma12/01/2017 00:00
The announcement of five summer season bus services for direct routes from the airport to certain tourist resorts seems certain to result in protests by taxi drivers that will start next month. The taxi drivers say that they have been deceived by transport minister Marc Pons, who held a meeting with representatives a few hours before he made the announcement, at which he discussed the idea without saying that its implementation was imminent.
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2 improvements Mallorca taxis need to make. No 1, The fare should be what is on the meter, remove the button that allows them to rack up the prices unfairly. No 2. All taxis must allow payment by credit card.More transparency will mean more customers.
Very please with the bus service. It very good transportation and doesn't case congestion on the high ways. Thank you
Steve, I can think of two : prostitutes and solicitors.
The problem really is that taxi owners have been paying unbelievably inflated prices for the licences, just to buy a job for life, and many have to repay their massive loans as well as the running costs. But it's all the same in Mallorca, - be very careful what you pay, or invest in a tourist area-based business. Bars and restaurants have seen their traspasos that they bought diminish, or disappear in recent years. It's not just the taxi's that have to adapt to much more competition to survive, - but hey, welcome to the World.
There should be airport buses, plus many more buses in resorts to Palma etc. Mallorca is very behind the offering that many European resorts already have. Back to striking again. As the boom happens you will see many Unions calling to strike. It will be the air traffic controllers, baggage handlers, coach drivers, hospitality workers next, when restaurants in resorts will not be able to offer a meal to a hungry young family on holiday. Why not introduce an Uber like App where taxi sharing becomes a norm.
Tourists are the financial lifeblood of Mallorca. Their interests come ahead of a cartel if taxi-drivers. I appreciate that being a taxi driver involves long hours, significant investment, and a not particularly high income, and most of them are genuinely helpful to customers BUT there's plenty of customers desperate for a taxi on this island: all they need is a more efficient way of matching taxi and potential customer. An island-wide call-a-taxi phone app would soon solve the problem. Has anyone got the guts and ability to bury petty regional rivalries to make it work? More people would use taxis and trade would be brisk and in that scenario a reduction in fare prices may actually lead to an increaae in taxi-drivers' income. There can't be many jobs where you spend most of your working life hanging round in hope of a customer.
Well said john ,
What a surprose. There should be more choice on airport transport. Competition is healthy, it keeps prices keen. I've never agreed with the laws regarding taking someone to the airport, it's not about insurance, as you are allowed to take them anywhere else. It all needs to change, and a good bus service will help take things that way. A taxi driver is a self-important non-skilled labourer that drives like the road belongs to him, and no more professional than a road-sweeper.