The Ibiza Town Hall has already prepared the new seasonal licensing plan for the cab sector in Vila, which will be published next week in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB).
This Action Plan on Public Transport of Passengers in Vehicles for the years 2025 to 2028, to which La Voz de Ibiza had access, establishes 174 seasonal licenses: 116 for holders (9 of which will be for holders of eurotaxis in the municipality of Ibiza) and 58 for employees. The aim of this is “to adapt the supply of public passenger transport service in tourism vehicles to the real demand, with the aim of correcting the distortion of the seasonal increase in mobility and combat intrusion“. “In the summer seasons of recent years, it has been found that there is a great disproportion between the supply of these services and the existing demand, largely caused by the marked seasonal component of tourist demand in Ibiza, which makes the population increase significantly during the summer months γ, therefore, can not provide an optimal service with the number of vehicles authorized to provide the service of public transport of passengers throughout the year,” details the draft of the project that has already been disseminated among the actors of the cab sector. In addition, it points out that “this has caused, especially during the last summer seasons, a growing increase in the illegal supply of passenger transport, which, in addition to being a direct detriment to the cab passenger transport sector, seriously affects the tourist image of the island and produces other distortions, such as affecting road safety”. The content of the Plan, according to Law 4/2014, is to establish the “conditions to which these authorizations are to be subject, the maximum number of authorizations to be granted, the conditions for the provision of the service, the rights and obligations to be assumed by the authorized subject, the term of the authorization, the amount, the assumptions of revocation and the rest of the conditions required”.
Seasonal licenses for four years
With the suspension of the granting of suspension to the granting of ordinary licenses and pending the results of the and awaiting the results of the comprehensive study by the Govern which will determine how many passenger transport vehicles are needed on the island, this Vila Plan has been prepared based on the conclusions of the analysis commissioned to the “engineering firm specializing in sustainable mobility OLIMICHAT at the request of the City Council, which analyzes the current situation, as well as its evolution in recent years after the impact of COVID-19, both in the recovery of tourism and mobility patterns”. In the aforementioned technical report, a total amount of 174 temporary licenses is established in the municipality of Ibiza, of which 9 will be for Eurotaxis. The duration of these authorizations will be six months in two different shifts, distributing 50% of the seasonal authorizations in each one. The first one will run from April 15 to October 15, while the second one will run from May 1 to October 31. Meanwhile, the new regime will be extended for four years (2025-2028) instead of two. The change in the duration of the concession, as explained by Councilman Ruben Sousa, is due to an adaptation to Law 1/2024, published in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands on March 25, 2024 in order to improve the regulation of transport services with vehicles with up to new seats in the Pitiusas. Said regulation modifies point 4 of Article 53 of the previous law (4/2014), and establishes that “to grant temporary licenses, the local councils will be based on the limitations and objective criteria referring to the improvement of air quality, transport management, traffic and public space, which will be established by a decree of the Government of the Balearic Islands. Temporary licenses will be granted for the period determined as high season by the respective town council and may be valid for a maximum of four years”.
Price increase
Sousa has detailed that the new seasonal cab licensing plan for Vila will include a rate increase of 33% per month. “Being a concession, it is estimated that the amortization of the vehicle in four years is more profitable than in two, that’s why the rate has to go up.”
In this context, the councilman specified that “cab drivers who previously paid 1,000 euros per month for 6 months will now pay 1,333.33 euros (8,000 euros for each season)”. Adapted vehicles (eurotaxis) will pay 1,772.89 euros in total for each season. “In order to avoid financial cost increases to the holders, the payment of the fee will be allowed in three payments: one after the awarding and before the beginning of the service; another before July 15; and another before September 30”, details the Plan.
Continue reading
-
Cab industry expects a substantial increase in fares in the Balearic Islands
-
Ibiza cab drivers claim that the Consell seeks to freeze fares with “absurd” proposal
