In the coming months there will be increases in cab fares in Ibiza and Formentera. Increases that cab drivers on the islands believe will help to redress historical imbalances with other autonomous communities, where their colleagues have lower costs and, instead, can charge more for trips.
The Balearic Government is preparing a model economic study that will be the basis for the different municipalities to establish the new rates.
“I am convinced that before the end of January there will be a first draft,” Gabriel Moragues, president of the Independent Taxi Federation of the Balearic Islands, told La Voz de Ibiza. “We hope that this new report will be less complex than the previous one. The previous system has been hurting us greatly by the criteria and indexes that were used to justify the increases,” he said.
The cab in Ibiza: “We have higher costs”.
For Moragues, the new economic study model, “will help to remedy the imbalance of cabs in the Balearic Islands in relation to other communities. We have been well below the rates of other places, when in fact here there are costs that are higher,” he said. For example, “in Ibiza the minimum fare is 4 euros, while in cities like San Sebastian it is 5.33 euros”.
The sustainability bill for cabs
The sector representative pointed out that, in addition to fuel, cars are more expensive on the islands. And that it is even necessary that the new tariffs contemplate the sustainability criteria demanded to the sector. “Current policies are leading us to change cars for electric or hybrid cars, which double in price to the traditional ones: instead of using a car of 15,000 or 20,000 euros, others of 30,000 to 40,000 euros will be required.” Once the economic study model is presented and approved, “each organization, including the city councils and the councils, will have to justify with this model the increases in the rates”, summarized Moragues.
Public consultation and new cab licenses
At the end of 2024 the Goven launched a public consultation that will serve to establish tariff regulations. In this regard, Moragues said that “the consultation carried out by the Government is just another formality. It is not a component that will be decisive in the resolution of the economic study model or in the tariffs”.
The cab model: temporary licenses
On the other hand, Moragues also referred to the granting of new licenses on the islands. “We are waiting for the Govern to finalize the economic study that is underway, at the moment we don’t know anything”. Moragues has advanced that “the criteria will focus on establishing temporary licenses for both cabs and VTCs; the reality is that in winter there is no need for more licenses for the supply that exists on islands like Ibiza”. At the same time, he believes that seasonality criteria should also take precedence in relation to VTC licenses.
