The Local Police of Orihuela is carrying out an operation of surveillance and regulation against the illegal operation of the ride-hailing services (VTCs) – operated by platforms such as Uber and Cabify – which impacts the taxi sector. Specifically, authorities are improving public safety by introducing new training courses and increasing oversight of these vehicles to guarantee that each drive is legal and safe, all while adhering to the current regulatory framework.
One inspection has taken place thus far and another is scheduled in the next few days. The first day saw the inspection of 21 vehicles, two arrests for falsification of documents, one vehicle seized and a number of penalties for administrative offences.
“Basically, in this type of controls, the agents are checking that they have a valid licence, with the corresponding administrative authorisation, as well as verification of the minimum reservation time – mandatory in the Valencian Community – the route sheets with the correct digital record of each service and specific insurance with special coverage for passenger transport”, he explains.
The point is that the use of pirate or fraudulent services means travelling without the essential insurance coverage and promotes unfair competition against professionals who comply with the law (licensed taxis and VTCs).
Running wild
But sources in the industry say that’s “not enough” because “there’s no oversight whatsoever and there are few police officers. In the municipality of Orihuela “tempers are running high, with daily fights” because of the rise in ride-hailing services, which are running with greater frequency along the coast, where there’s a lack of taxis, and “they know they can make a killing on the coast; it’s a gold mine.”
The same sources point out that they pick up passengers at the taxi stand itself, which is forbidden, and that they are touting for customers offering themselves as a taxi service, especially to visitors, a conduct punishable by a punishment of 6,000 euros.
Ride-hailing company operating without authorisation for urban service in Villamartín, police say. Also, Orihuela has no ordinance for taxi service. Because it’s unregulated, “little can be done”, the same sources bemoan, adding that the City Council has pledged to put more police officers on the beat to boost enforcement.
Complaining
Taxi drivers say one of the primary issues is that most ride-hailing services flout the law by making urban excursions, when only a few are licensed to do so, and the others should be limited to interstate trips.
They further claim that the platforms providing these services operate irregularly, operating as “centres for distribution of services, the equivalent of taxi associations, without being able to do so”, as they are not registered as such.
For this reason they seek increased forcefulness of the Generalitat and the towns so that the firms of VTC are in compliance with the rules, while they also stress the economic damage in which the approximately 1,440 licensed taxis of the province have been incurred .
Demonstrations
So much so that the representative taxi associations of the Valencian Community have announced that they will stage weekly protests indefinitely in Alicante, Valencia and Castellón until the Administration provides them with a solution “with a date” to finish “with the intrusion” of VTCs.
The protests are scheduled for Thursday and Friday this week, May 15th, in the three provincial capitals. They will meet again to discuss what “the next step” will be till the government comes back with a solution.
In this sense, the president of the Confederation of Self-Employed Taxi Drivers of the Valencian Community, Fernando del Molino, has asked the third vice president and Minister of Environment, Infrastructure, Territory and Recovery, Vicente Martínez Mus, to present them with a draft of the mobility decree “with a publication date”.
Therefore, he pointed out that they “don’t have much confidence” that there will be any news this May, because “in the spring of 2025 he told us it would be before summer, then after Juanfran Pérez Llorca’s investiture, then by Christmas, in February it was a matter of days, then after Fallas and later after Easter and we still have no publication date.”
