The Consell de Ibiza argues that the free bus service would lead to “bankruptcy”

Torres recalls that the two new public transport concessions that will replace the current ones, with a cost of 18 million euros per year (excluding revenue), will already mean “a significant expense” for the Consell de Ibiza to cover “the deficit” of the service because, among other things, it must compensate for the extra cost of paying the fares of the bus station in Vila (Cetis).

The policy paper of last weekend’s FSE congress proposes “studying the possibility” of making the bus service free for the whole population, following “the examples that are beginning to be implemented in many places in Europe”, with the aim of making public transport an alternative to private transport.

The Socialists point out that this possibility should be evaluated with a view to the new concessions , which the center-right government plans to launch at the beginning of next year, and proposes the creation of a tax for vehicles entering the island to finance this measure.

“Nothing is free”

Precisely, the second vice-president of the Consell warns that “nothing is free”, because “in the end [the cost of the service] comes out of taxes paid by citizens”. “It is very easy to say that it is free, but taxes would have to be created to finance it or else there would have to be an increase in funding from the Govern“, he warns. As the PSOE governs the Autonomous Community, Torres proposes that the ESF ask for “20 million extra” for Ibiza. “Maybe that way we could consider it,” he says.

“The annual cost would be barbaric. In the situation we are living in, making policy with these ideas seems surreal to me. We have to work rigorously and with the awareness that certain measures have a cost and that this has to be financially sustainable over time,” he stresses.

Torres also invites the PSOE to apply this measure in Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera, where it governs. “When you are in the opposition it is very easy to make grandiose proposals like these to get these headlines,” says the vice-president, who is against creating new taxes to finance the free bus service. “Have they already quantified how much would be collected [with the vehicle entry tax]? Do they know how many vehicles enter and leave the island, and how many are residents?”, questions Torres, who, when warned that the PSOE’s political document proposes this measure as a possibility to be studied, adds that “there will be people who will not know whether or not it is a real proposal”. “Then there is a discredit towards politicians because many things are promised,” the Cs councillor points out.

“People on Ibiza do not want to ride a bus for free, they want quality”

Torres adds that “right now people do not ask for free public transport, but quality”. “There are sensitive groups that, with the youth card and the gold card, no longer pay for this service,” he points out, referring to those under 18 and over 65, in addition to those over 55 without work and people at risk of social exclusion, among others. “In Mallorca it is free until the age of 16 and in Menorca this benefit does not exist. They should first apply the story where they govern,” he says. Since June of last year it has also been free on Formentera for children under 18, and people with disabilities and dependents and their companions.