A flagship city council policy to equip Palma with a fleet of hydrogen fuelled buses has hit a major snag....there is no hydrogen on the island and the whole plan has hit the buffers. New Mayor Jaime Martinez is not impressed saying that the previous administration talked "a lot of hot air" which has cost the city five million euros so far.
A hydrogen-producing plant in Lloseta should have been responsible for the fuel for the new buses but it is still not functioning. As a result the five buses have been brought to stop.
Martinez also revealed that 80 buses were out of service because of mechanical problems. The new mayor, who took office in June, said that it was "chaos" at the municipal bus company. He said that they were rapidly trying to repair many of the buses which were out of service. Meanwhile, the new Balearic government is working to try and find a quick fix for the Lloseta plant, which opened last year but is still not operational.
Free public transport was one of the key policies of the previous administration but according to the mayor the bus company is in a big mess.