In Orihuela, the scarcity of taxis in response to the high demand has resulted in unscrupulous practices, including the open offering of oneself as an illegal taxi to convey passengers to Torrevieja, Elche, or even Alicante or Corvera airports in Murcia.
Furthermore, it fosters conjecture among individuals who possess a licence pursuant to a concession granted by the Administration, and who are willing to sell it for 195,000 euros.
Ciudadanos raised this issue in a motion that the plenary session will discuss on Thursday, 28th May. The motion is intended to address the needs of the residents of Orihuela, particularly those who reside on the coast. José Aix, spokesperson for the Ciudadanos party, criticised the City Council for allowing a shortage of taxis, which has resulted in the sale of licences online for nearly €200,000. He argued that the Council’s own obstacles have impeded access to the licenses, which has fuelled speculation.
Therefore, the motion encourages the Councillor for Transport, Víctor Sigüenza (PP), to increase the number of taxi licences, which is presently just over 40. The municipality could have nearly 90 licenses based on its population.
Long delay times
The lamentable spectacle of people making endless queues at taxi stands on the coast, primarily due to a lack of vehicles, is unacceptable to Aix once again. This problem is repeated annually from April until at least September, as a result of the enormous increase in the floating population on the coast, particularly visitors, without an adequate and sufficient mobility infrastructure to meet the demand.
In his opinion, “this is the image we project for our tourism promotion: people and luggage stranded at taxi stands waiting for a non-existent means of transport.” Additionally, the councilman has accused Sigüenza of blocking the new licences that were agreed upon more than two years ago and of “not having any realistic plan to improve personal mobility in a municipality with so much territory and a predominantly vacationing population that needs transportation for their journeys.”
So, the motion asks the local council to use its powers to fix this problem. It needs to make sure there is at least one taxi license for every thousand residents, as the law requires. It also wants the council to ask the regional government to allow more VTCs (like Uber) in the area. This will give people more transport options, while making sure everything is legal, properly regulated, and safe.
