Palma Town Hall has a week to decide if there will be free travel on EMT buses in 2025. Conditions of the Spanish Government's travel subsidy are such that it applies all year, and so a decision is needed before January 1.
In October, the town hall announced that it would not be budgeting for the subsidy in 2025. The impression given was the general free travel scheme would in any event be withdrawn, even if the Spanish Government were to approve the subsidy for the Balearics. Confirmation of the subsidy was finally given last week.
The town hall has regularly stated that the funding it receives takes too long to arrive and is insufficient. The councillor for mobility, Antonio Deudero, wants to know exactly what the government has approved, making clear that the town hall "cannot assume the deficit".
Deudero is critical of the lateness of the government's approval and of a lack of direct communication. He says that the town hall only learned of the approval from a press conference. "A budget is a very serious matter that cannot be dependent on last-minute decisions. The reality is that we do not have it in writing and we still do not know what we are talking about for the year 2025."
He explains that free travel has cost EMT 25 million euros this year but that only 18 million euros have been allocated, while the money for 2024 has still not been received.