For the Agrupación de Autotaxis de las Islas Baleares (integrated in the Federación Empresarial Balear de Transportes, FEBT), the draft decree presented last month by the Conselleria de Vivienda, Territorio y Movilidad, which incorporates the possibility of establishing a single rate in the cab service, is confusing and ambiguous, especially when it comes to making clear which body has the power to determine the rates and to update them, as well as to manage the sector.
“The draft Decree suffers from a notable ambiguity when it comes to identifying the competent administrations in the determination and updating of fares in nationwide authorizations (VT),” states the main point of a list of allegations submitted by Joan Marí Riera, cab license owner in Ibiza, on behalf of the group.
The phase of allegations closed on February 5, the day Marí Riera’s letter was filed. The intention of the Govern is that the decree comes into force next summer.
In relation to fares, points out the text sent to the General Directorate of Mobility of the Balearic Government, the preamble of the decree states that “the competence for its determination and updating corresponds to the island councils, as managing bodies and with executive powers in matters of land transport in the respective insular areas”. As justification, the draft decree cites opinions 113/2016 and 21/2018.
“This statement is not understood, given that from the reading precisely of the opinions of the Consell Consultiu the opposite conclusion is reached. To the opinions cited, 113/216 and 21/2018, we can also add opinions 26/2016 and 15/2022”, develops the allegation. As an example, it points out that “in 15/2022, on the regime of passenger collection on the island of Ibiza, the following conclusions were reached:
“The modification of the special system for passenger collection on which the consultation is based, as well as the fare system linked to the same, must be carried out by means of a regulatory rule, the approval of which is the responsibility of the Government of the Balearic Islands.
3.ª The mere updating of the tariffs established in the regulation can be carried out through a general administrative act dictated by the competent body of the Island Council of Ibiza”.
In other words, “to establish tariffs in national authorizations (vt) is competència of the Govern, while the simple update of the same one yes can be of the councils”, explains Marí Riera to La Voz de Ibiza. And he adds, in relation to the competences of each organism: “I don’t know why the Govern interprets what it interprets”.
According to the allegations presented, this “incongruity in the determination (new) and updating (revision) of fares for cabs in the Balearic Islands does NOT generate legal certainty for the holders of these authorizations”.
Confusion
Marí Riera and the group ask for certainty and guarantees on how the rates will be applied and the services will be managed. Something that, he denounces, the draft decree leaves in limbo, contradicting previous opinions in relation to the powers of the Govern, the Consell and the municipalities.
At the same time, the decree makes no mention of regional or island authorizations, leaving cab drivers in the dark as to whether there will be future regulations affecting their activity.
“What matters to us is that if there are complaints, we must know where to send them, that it is clear that it is the Consell, because it is the body that governs and executes,” complains Marí Riera . In addition, he considers that the draft decree seems to be made “so that it is not clear to whom each competence corresponds”.
The driver gives an example in which ambiguity and contradiction could generate uncertainty when charging for a cab service. According to point 6 of article 8, the first five minutes of waiting in a GPS service cannot be charged. “In the decree law 5/2022 on passenger collection, the first five minutes are not free of charge. Who is going to modify that decree? It is not made clear in the project. This type of thing is what generates confusion.”
In addition, the regulations on taximeters and their conditions of application, the allegations point out, could conflict with specific regulations of each island, such as the special regime of passenger collection in Ibiza. “Furthermore, it is not clear what will happen in the case of Formentera, where there are no taximeters, will they have to put them there too?” adds Marí Riera.
Rates
Another of the allegations made by the Agrupación de Autotaxis de las Islas Baleares refers to the confusion generated by the different types of fares, which in some cases seem to refer to the same thing. Specifically, it criticizes the similarity between “single equivalent fares”, defined in Article 3, and “fares for special passenger collection schemes”, in Article 4.
In fact, both articles are almost identical. It is stated that both fares “shall be applicable to urban routes that are carried out entirely within the territory of each of the municipalities concerned” and that for their “determination and updating, the agreement of all the municipalities concerned shall be required and the procedure foreseen for urban fares shall be followed”.
“In the draft of the previous consultation, the tariffs of the special regimes did not appear, therefore, I consider that the equivalent single tariffs should be eliminated due to duplicity,” the allegations state.
Joint benefit
When the draft decree was presented in the middle of last month, the Directorate General of Mobility reported that it sought to establish a single reference rate, according to the demands of the sector. Marí Riera remarked that “the demand of the sector was that the councils should regulate a joint service area”, and that is precisely what is not clear in the project presented.
“Here in Ibiza, both federations -both his group and the FITIE-agreed that the Consell should regulate the joint service area. We don’t care who drafts it, whether it’s the Consellería de Transporte or whoever, as long as that joint service area is managed from Ibiza,” he adds.
More allegations
The one of the competences is not the only allegation that the Agrupación de Autotaxis de las Islas Baleares has made to the draft decree.
One of the allegations is that the distinction between the types of tariffs is not clear either. “You read what they have defined as a single equivalent tariff and the collection regime and they are the same,” criticizes Marí Riera.
The allegations it has presented also point out that although “in no way can the Island Councils establish urban reference fares (…) much less can they be applied to special passenger collection schemes or territorial areas of joint provision”.
Other allegations made against the project include the lack of clarity in the indication of supplements in the tariffs.
“It should be specified if the port supplement applies only to ports dependent on port authority, or also marinas with access control. In Ibiza it is the case that there are common accesses and spaces for some marinas with ports dependent on port authority,” says the brief. “Customers do not know well when they are charged and when they are not,” adds Marí Riera.
Something similar happens with the supplement for mountain roads. “It should be specified whether the mountain supplement is also applicable to services performed through rural roads, where due to the poor condition of the roads, the taximeter only counts the time elapsed, not the kilometers,” the cab driver points out.
In addition, it is alleged that the supplement on vehicles with more than five seats will affect large families.
