Responding to the European instruction to remove the discount for residents, the president of Ferrocarril de Soller, Oscar Mayol, said that rates were ones approved and posted on the Official Bulletin in the Balearics and that the company is now looking at adopting a usage incentive scheme like that of the SFM rail operator and Palma's EMT bus service.
Service on the Palma-Soller line restarted yesterday after three months of suspension because of maintenance work. Mayol took the occasion of the first train leaving Palma in the morning to report on last year's performance and plans for 2017. He said that more than 1.5 million tickets were sold in 2016, pointing out that 95.4% were sold to non-residents. In the case of the tram, the percentage was slightly lower - 91.2%.
He explained that forecasts for 2017 are good but that there has to be caution because "every day it gets more difficult to attract tourists". During the year, information panels are to be installed in stations and there will also be an application for mobiles. The 100-strong workforce is being maintained and will be increased in summer depending on demand, as will frequency of service on both the train and the tram.