Dear Sir,
I READ with great interest your article today relating to public transport here in Majorca. I am not sure if you have ever tried the excellent bus service from Palma to the Calvia are and agree that by looking at the timetable, it does indeed look good, but in practice it is not. We own an apartment in Palma Nova and to catch a bus into Palma between 9.15am and 11.15am is a nightmare. We are standing up like sardines in a tin, if indeed you can get on a bus at all. We have, on several occasion, waited for one and a half hours to get onto a bus and have often given up waiting to go home. We now only go into Palma when necessary and then before 9am or after 11.15am. It is best to live in Illetas or Arenal for they have the E.M.T. buses every few minutes, some of them bendy buses and always with plenty of room. The airport shuttle is a very good idea nad we do use it, but catching the TIB bus to Palma is a different matter, neither the bus driver or the other passengers are impressed when we try to squeeze on with our suitcases and hand luggage. The last thing I would mention is two years ago, we had a bus station built here in Palma Nova.
The building has never been opened so if you wanted advice or to use the toilet, then don't even think about it as it is in the middle of nowhere! The buses were nearly always full when they arrived and no route actually started from there. Now a new fare stage is in operation at Son Caliu, and only two buses actually use the bus station.
What a complete waste of money. We were promised buses to take us all over the Island and now it is hardly being used at all. With the fare stage at Son Caliu, we now have to pay as much to get from there to Palma Nova beach, as we pay to get from the Plaza España to Son Caliu.
Cynthia Meager, Palma Nova
Local transport: a bus too far