On Wednesday, representatives of the taxi sector met President Prohens and warned her there will be a "a massacre" of the sector if 10,000 VTC licences are granted.
Standing for 'Vehículo de Transporte con Conductor', these are licences with which Uber operate. 10,000 have been requested - 3,500 in Mallorca, the rest for Ibiza. These were submitted in 2023 in anticipation of legislative changes, and a recent ruling by the Balearic High Court now compels the government to process them.
The Balearic Parliament approved a moratorium to stem the flood of applications until regulations governing the service were in place, but these licences have been excluded from this suspension. Concern is therefore growing in the taxi sector, as the court ruled that the government must re-examine 600 applications from a specific company (Moove Cars). This precedent could be applied to all the other applications.
The ruling overturned a mechanism the government had adopted to curb VTCs - a ratio based on the number of taxis (one ride-hailing vehicle for every 12.6 taxis in Mallorca) - which served to establish a maximum limit. The court considered that this criterion was not sufficiently justified. Its ruling doesn't imply the automatic granting of the licences, but it does force the government to reconsider them on a case-by-case basis.
At the meeting, the taxi drivers came up with an argument they want the government to consider in denying licence authorisation. This relates to the absence of regional borders and to the relative lack of roads that are ultimately state-owned, e.g. motorways. In the Balearics there can be no crossing of borders. The licences arise from state authorisation but are granted by the regional government through delegated powers.
The president of the taxi drivers federation, Gabriel Moragues, said these licences "would be unsustainable for the Balearics' economic model" and he referred to "mafias that speculate with a public asset". In other parts of Spain, investment companies have acquired licences by paying negligible fees and then sold them for much higher prices, thereby reaping millions in profit.
He added that the arrival of these companies in the Balearics would be "unacceptable" for the profitability of the taxi industry and that Uber, which does have a presence on the islands, engages in unfair competition. "Uber charges less in winter and then four times more in summer. Cars solicit customers on seafront promenades, which they're not allowed to do. Uber doesn't want to coexist."
Jordi Mora, president of the Pimem federation of small and medium-sized business associations, said: "We have to ask ourselves what model we want for the islands: 2,500 taxis, 2,500 families, 2,500 small businesses, or two or three large, speculative operators who cheat the system." He warned of the impact an influx of cars could have on the region, especially as the debate in Mallorca is about how to set limits.