Up to the end of September the Aerotib airport-to-resorts bus services had more than 155,000 users. The government's director-general for transport, Jaume Mateu, says that the services have met a demand of passengers going to and from the airport and that the government is satisfied with the response despite there having been little promotion.
The current schedules will end on 30 October, after which it is understood that there will be minimum services during the off-season. As far as promotion is concerned, the services will be publicised at the major travel fairs over the winter (London, Madrid, Berlin). Mateu anticipates that demand will rise significantly next year as a result of this promotion. He adds that there is to be a fifth route in 2018 - one to Cala Ratjada.
Two of the four services started on 3 May. These were the Paguera-Magalluf and Alcudia Bay routes. Their earlier start is one reason (but only one) for their having proved to be the most popular. Paguera-Magalluf had 70,337 passengers to the end of September and the Alcudia Bay service had 43,049.
Cala Bona-Cala Millor, which started on 1 June, registered 20,671 users. The fourth route, and the last one to go into operation (on 15 June), is the Arenal-Cala d'Or service. It had 21,262 passengers.
Nothing is at present being said about the financial performance of these routes and whether there might be any compensation from the government for the bus companies operating them. A few weeks ago, the taxi drivers revealed that there could well be some compensation.