Transabus, one of the bus companies which will be operating tourist resort services from the airport this summer, has bought 30 new buses for these services.
The president of the self-employed taxi drivers association, Gabriel Moragues, says that this fleet is registered on the mainland and that Transabus is a company that has its tax base outside the Balearics, which is also the case with Arriva (Autocares Mallorca and Bus Nord) and Alsa. The government, he claims, wishes to favour "foreign" companies and put at risk more than 2,200 taxi drivers in Majorca.
Taxi associations within CAEB and Pimem agree that the government has pulled bus routes "out of its hat" that no one supports. Antoni Bauzá of the CAEB association says that none of the mayors in the municipalities which the routes will serve is satisfied or has indeed asked for the routes. "The government is lying when it says there is consensus with the town halls."
Antoni Cladera of the Pimem taxi association states that it isn't a case of being against public transport but of opposing the duplication of routes. It is logical, he says, for the government to arrange for more buses to go from the airport to the intermodal station in Palma so that there are connections with other bus services to the tourist resort centres.
The government, as far as all three associations are concerned, doesn't really know it is doing or understand the repercussions for taxi drivers. The associations have been meeting with various political parties - up to now with the PP, El Pi and Ciudadanos - and plan to speak to Més as well. All the parties, claims Moragues, are surprised by the decision taken by the transport ministry and want there to be a strengthening of connections to the intermodal station through government subventions.