Transabus, one of the bus companies which will be operating tourist resort services from the airport this summer, has bought 30 new buses for these services.
The president of the self-employed taxi drivers association, Gabriel Moragues, says that this fleet is registered on the mainland and that Transabus is a company that has its tax base outside the Balearics, which is also the case with Arriva (Autocares Mallorca and Bus Nord) and Alsa. The government, he claims, wishes to favour "foreign" companies and put at risk more than 2,200 taxi drivers in Majorca.
Taxi associations within CAEB and Pimem agree that the government has pulled bus routes "out of its hat" that no one supports. Antoni Bauzá of the CAEB association says that none of the mayors in the municipalities which the routes will serve is satisfied or has indeed asked for the routes. "The government is lying when it says there is consensus with the town halls."
Antoni Cladera of the Pimem taxi association states that it isn't a case of being against public transport but of opposing the duplication of routes. It is logical, he says, for the government to arrange for more buses to go from the airport to the intermodal station in Palma so that there are connections with other bus services to the tourist resort centres.
The government, as far as all three associations are concerned, doesn't really know it is doing or understand the repercussions for taxi drivers. The associations have been meeting with various political parties - up to now with the PP, El Pi and Ciudadanos - and plan to speak to Més as well. All the parties, claims Moragues, are surprised by the decision taken by the transport ministry and want there to be a strengthening of connections to the intermodal station through government subventions.
9 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
I remember public buses going from the airport to resorts many years ago! Taxi from Airport to Cala D'or 160 euro July 2016. Hiring a car -daylight robbery but cheaper to have a car for two weeks than to use Taxi's with extortionate rstes plus the extra they charge! Car hire firms should be sorted out -Why are the Taxi drivers up in arms-cause anyone with sense would use public transport,hire car or Resort Hopper Taxi's and car hire have been ripping tourist off for years and getting away with it too easy!
Last summer we had a very pleasant fortnight in Santa Ponsa, on what was our first ever visit to Majorca. It was marred only by a little mishap at the end, when the return taxi to the airport failed to turn up, though I had booked it by e-mail (with a company called Balearic Transfer, recommended by a friend) and paid it for by credit card some weeks previously in the U.K. After waiting for 40 minutes we took another taxi that was cruising past, fearing we would miss our flight, and so paid twice (almost 50 Euros each time) for the return journey. I am therefore all in favour of any new direct bus services from the airport to the resorts.
I normally pay between 90 and 100 Euro to and from the airport for a taxi. This is a huge amount of money. Give me an alternative and I shall try it. That is what competition is all about.Thats the world we live in. If a supplier puts their prices to a level that people object to ,it creates competition. This is what has happened here. The taxi association have created this issue themselves with no one to compete with . They shall have to now rethink their pricing. They worked hard to get some exclusivity against providers who could not fightback. Now they have the big boys against them , lets see if they blockage the airport like they have done before. They will have to compete as they have no given right to have lifetime exclusivity.
2,200 "RIP OFF" TAXI DRIVERS, charging €25.00 from the Airport to Plaza Espana in Palma. What is needed are secret inspectors, acting as Tourists. Then catching these criminal rip off drivers. Removing their license, and banning them for life.PLEASE !!!!
And also these buses will take business away from the rip off car hire merchants record go to name one
Families with more than 4 members will definitely use buses as otherwise its 2 taxis . People sit on the hoppa for an hour then have to go through other resorts so direct from the airport to resort is a bonus.
I can not see people waiting in the hot August summer heat for a bus for an hour or so, if they have just missed one, especially families with younger children. I feel people will still use taxis to get to resorts. But sadly I feel, the resort taxis will be the biggest losers, and tourists may make use of the buses for return journeys.
This might stop people having to pay 80 euro for a 15km taxi ride when their Hoppa coach brakes down.!! This is what happened to us last summer in the heat . We had to flag a taxi as we were stuck in a hot bus with no sight of another bus arriving so we stopped a taxi and the robbing thief took advantage of our situation.!!
Taxi drivers on the whole are quite polite, but take away the button on their meters that allows them to rack up charges without reason. THE PRICE ON THE METER IS THE PRICE YOU SHOULD PAY> Also, they should have a credit card reader in their cab. Keep up or fall behind.