Taxi war between Palma and Calvia drivers

The agreement between the town halls has been branded a failure

The National Police arrested a Palma taxi driver at the airport. | Policia Nacional

Andrew EdePalma15/09/2024 17:21

A taxi war between drivers in Calvia and Palma has existed since the respective mayors - Juan Antonio Amengual and Jaime Martínez - signed an agreement whereby taxis could pick up from the other municipality when returning to their own.

This agreement came into force on August 1 and is due to end on September 30. For some drivers, the end can't come soon enough. One of the taxi associations doesn't want to wait until the end of the month. This is because of the clashes that have occurred. One resulted in the National Police arresting a Palma driver after he assaulted a Calvia driver who was picking up at the airport. Over the weeks there have been some heated exchanges and acts of vandalism.

According to the agreement, taxi drivers can pick up from ranks in the other municipality so long as there are no other taxis or there are long queues of passengers.

But this can give rise to potential arguments among drivers, a majority of whom say that the agreement has been a failure. It may have been an "historic" agreement, but the procedures weren't thought through and were also "ultra-restrictive".

Meanwhile, the taxis complain that Uber drivers have been benefiting. They've been given free rein, says one taxi driver. "They don't care which municipality it is, but we are regulated to the max."