The Consell de Ibiza has already sent the Balearic Govern for immediate approval an proposal for an insular order for the loading and unloading of the taxi sector agreed with the municipalities of the island that will replace the current one from 2012. On Wednesday last week an emergency Mayor’s Counsel was convened to close this document, which finally regulates the service management service by satellite positioning technology (GPS) throughout the island and, as a first, eliminates the preference of cabs from the municipality in the collection of users at taxi ranks when there is a queue of people waiting.
This change in the taxi operation will have a special impact at the airport rank. Taxi drivers from Sant Josep will no longer have loading priority over vehicles from the rest of the island, as long as there are passengers waiting, which, according to the sources consulted, will provide more agility to the service and will reduce the queues of passengers.
Now, the Balearic Govern will approve a decree law for the immediate application of the new regulation. In fact, the sources consulted by this newspaper point out that the Mayor’s Counsel was urgently convened last week (the media was not informed of this) so that the decree could be approved at Monday’s Consell de Govern. But it did not arrive on time. The Govern is already working on it with the idea of approving it as soon as possible, with a view to next Monday. Thus, the new order will come into force after the publication of the agreement of the Consell de Govern in the Butlletí Oficial de les Illes Balears (BOIB). Then, the Parliament will have to validate the decree or approve its processing as a bill, but in the meantime it will be in force.
With the new insular order for loading and unloading, the crisis opened in the city of Ibiza due to the use of GPS will be solved and, with the service already regulated at insular level, the operators will be able to give trips to taxis from other municipalities.
In addition, the new order also unblocks fares, which have not been modified since 2014, not even the CPI increase. In any case, at the moment the document to be approved by the Consell de Govern provides for a first increase of around 3.6%. Thus, the price per kilometer traveled in daytime hours will go from 1.09 euros to 1.13 euros and night or holiday from 1.33 to 1.38 euros. The supplement for starting the service will be 3.75 euros (10 cents more than now) and the airport and port, 1.85 euros (an increase of five cents).
Pending taxi fare increase
This increase was calculated more than a year and a half ago (before the escalation of fuel prices) with the corresponding economic study to justify it. Due to the urgency for the approval of the new insular order of loading and unloading, it has been decided to include this increase (a new economic study to justify the real increase would delay the whole process). However, once this regulation is approved, the Consell de Ibiza will have a free hand to approve a new rate increase. In fact, according to the sources consulted, the Consell plans to meet with the sector once the new order comes into force in order to approve a new increase in line with the real rise in costs, particularly fuel costs.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.