One of the taxi drivers' associations has called a protest on 13 September against restrictions on working hours in Palma. Antoni Bauzá of the association that is within the Balearic transport federation wants the town hall to allow 24-hour working (for the cars, that is, rather than the drivers) and so address drivers' complaints and, above all, those of the public.
The protest, in the form of a cavalcade, will start at ten in the morning in Son Moix. The drive will be to the town hall and will take around two hours.
Bauzá says that the current sixteen hours of operation are creating big problems and don't benefit the drivers at all. There is, he stresses, a bad service during the night. He wants the protest to rectify the "errors" made this year and ensure that they aren't repeated during the 2018 tourism season.
He argues that the situation at present is leading to chaos, and he places the blame for this on the town hall and another drivers' association, the one led by Biel Moragues. The town hall, according to Bauzá, has an obligation to provide a good service to the public but isn't. Moragues, he claims, has pressurised the town hall into following a decision taken four years ago but which now makes no sense in that it harms the whole taxi sector.
The protest is scheduled for a day when there will be no cruise ships in port and when passenger arrivals at the airport will be comparatively light. In addition to longer hours, the protest will be demanding greater police and transport ministry inspector presence at the airport.