The Consell de Govern held on Ibiza has approved a decree law to come into effect on Thursday, with the new insular order of taxi loading and unloading which replaces that of 2012 and finally standardizes the use throughout the island of the GPS call answering service.
With the approval of this regulation, a problem entrenched for many years and that had created a crisis in Vila, the only municipality with a signed agreement with GPS operators, as it was impossible without an approved regulation for the city’s radio taxi service to grant trips to vehicles from other municipalities, is solved.
From Thursday, the cab service in Ibiza town will be able to operate like the rest of the municipalities of the island, in which, unlike Vila, there is no control (nor penalty regime for possible breaches) of the GPS service.
Having solved the GPS problem, the main feature of the new insular taxi order is the elimination of preference at taxi ranks in the event that there are more people waiting than vehicles in the queue. This change affects all taxi ranks on the island, but will have a special impact at the airport. From Thursday, when there are people waiting at the rank, taxi drivers, regardless of the municipality they are from, will be able to load without giving priority to drivers from Sant Josep.
Sant Josep taxi drivers displeased
Precisely, this regulatory change, agreed by the Consell and the municipalities of the island, has caused discontent in Sant Josep cab drivers for the loss of priority of the stop of the island that generates the most movements. Therefore, to demonstrate their displeasure, several dozen cab drivers from this municipality passed by the front of the headquarters of the Consell up to three times, sounding the horn of their vehicles while the Govern approved the new regulation for the sector. This convoy of protest caused traffic jams in the Avenida de España.
The president of the Government, Francina Armengol, assumed “the responsibility” of its executive but recalled in statements to the media, that the new island regulation has been agreed by the Consell and the five municipalities. That said, Aremengol said that the taxi sector is “a public service” and, regardless of the municipality of origin of a cab, what “must prevail is that the person who is waiting at the stop can catch a taxi as soon as possible.” “It is the logical thing to do,” she said, while pointing out that when there are no queues, cab drivers from the stop’s municipality still maintain their preference.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.