“It is unfair to the cab”: the Govern plants face to Uber and appeals the 600 VTC ruling.

The Balearic Government will appeal the ruling of the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB) that forces to reprocess 600 VTC licenses denied during the last legislature.

• A ruling derails the plan designed by the Government to curb Uber and facilitates a flood of new licenses

This was announced Friday by the spokesman of the Executive, Antoni Costa, after the meeting of the Consell de Govern. Costa stressed that the court ruling “forces to reprocess applications for licenses, not to grant them” and described it as “unfair” for the cab sector, so the Govern will fight it “to the last instance”.

• The Government prepares its strategy to contain Uber after the judicial setback that forces it to re-examine 600 VTC licenses.

A ruling questioning the use of the ratio to veto VTCs

The ruling – to which La Voz de Ibizahad access –annuls the resolution of the previous Govern that rejected six applications for 100 VTC licenses each and orders the file to be taken back so that they can be studied again without applying the ratio of 12.6 cabs for each VTC fixed by Decree 43/2014 for Mallorca.

The TSJIB considers that this ratio was applied automatically, without justifying “compelling reasons of general interest” such as the good management of transport, traffic, public space or environmental protection, in line with the European doctrine that has already overturned similar limits such as the 1/30 of Barcelona.

In addition, the court specifies that these 600 applications – submitted before 2024 – are not covered by the moratorium on new cab and VTC licenses introduced by Law 1/2024, which only suspends authorizations requested after that date.

Sources from the General Directorate of Mobility had already explained to this newspaper that the Executive was studying “different ways of recourse, as well as the necessary complementary measures in its objective of avoiding a massive entry of VTCs taking into account the circumstances of the islands”.

At the same time, the Govern frames the court battle in a broader regulatory scheme: Law 1/2024 and the new cab and VTC regulation that is being processed. That framework provides that:

• Each island shall determine the maximum number of licenses,

• VTCs may only operate on the island where they are domiciled,

• and quotas are set according to objective criteria (Human Pressure Index, public transportation network, presence of hospitals, ports and airports, road congestion and environmental parameters).