With some improvements, the Balearic Government has begun to disseminate the Questionnaire for Professionals of the Taxi sector, with which it seeks to draw up, through a contract with a company, a exhaustive radiography on the situation of cabs and VTCs on the islands on the islands, and to define how many ordinary and temporary licenses are needed in both high and low season for both types of passenger transport. Of the 17 questions of the first draft that were sent to the drivers, which aroused criticism for its inconsistencies, errors and lack of depth, as La Voz de Ibiza advanced, finally 28 queries have been defined through an online form, which is in possession of this media. This questionnaire is an essential part of the Socioeconomic study on the cab and VTC service in the Balearic Islands, which analyzes the cab and VTC service in the Balearic Islands.which analyzes the current situation regarding the levels of coverage of mobility needs in the cab and VTC (vehicle rental with driver) sector”.
The objective is “tocharacterize the current service, the quality and the optimal dimensioning of the fleet, always guaranteeing the economic viability of the service”, the Govern informs the drivers in the introduction of the questionnaire. For this reason, they request “collaboration and participation in this study in order to gather the sector’s impressions. It is a questionnaire of about 5-7 minutes addressed to the cab license holders of the Balearic Islands”.
Details
In addition to the driver’s characteristics, besides age and gender, the driver’s language is also asked. Although the list includes Catalan and Spanish, basic requirements to obtain the Autotaxi credential. The document maintains the anonymity of the respondent and does not record whether he/she is an owner or an employee, in addition to not having any mechanism to discriminate the veracity of the answers. However, it does go into the number of licenses owned by the respondent, whether they are ordinary or seasonal and how many drivers are associated with each license, in addition to detailing the municipality to which the respondent belongs. It also inquires about the model, year and number of kilometers of the car. The Govern wants to know “how many hours and days a week you work in the summer season” and in the “winter season”. On the other hand, it adds to the questions the methods of contracting the service: through application, by radio or if he directly picked up passengers in the street when all these data are recorded in the taximeter and in the GPS operations log. Despite the questioning at first by cab drivers, the survey insists on asking the number of daily runs as the calculation of annual kilometers, information that can also be obtained through the GPS and the supplements charged in the taximeters.
Tourism
The Government also wants to know the percentage of tourists transported, both in summer and winter, as well as the connections to the ports and the airport, information that the driver does not have and that, therefore, will be an estimate without any rigor. He asks for an evaluation of the quality of the service provided to customers, on a scale ranging from very high to very low, and leaves two questions open: what measures he believes would be necessary to improve the sector; and if there are any other issues or suggestions he would like to share regarding the cab service and its current situation.
Costs and benefits
The authorities seek to collect data on two other items that were not in the first draft: the costs and benefits of cab drivers. In that context, they ask how many days a year they estimate they have not been able to work for the following reasons: shift obligation, vacations, breakdowns or illness. They also want to know the indirect costs of the service: fuel; oils, filters, tires and maintenance; administration and management; insurance; parking; and taxes. And what are, approximately, the total annual revenues per license. In this case, the options range from less than 15,000 euros to more than 50,000 euros.
