No increases to taxi fares this year in Spain's Palma de Mallorca

THE planned increase in taxi rates in Spain’s Palma de Mallorca has been put on hold, angering drivers who have not seen fares change for over seven years.
Last year, the Consell de Mallorca had agreed with unions to push the fares up by 2.43% for the 2020 tourist season to reflect the increase in fuel and to meet new regulations enforced by Palma City Council.
This included a new system that links the taxi fare for journeys made from the airport to the city where passengers with an intermodal card will not be charged more than €16 flat rate.
The objective of this minimum rate was to protect residents living in districts near to the airport, however the reduction has left a bad taste in drivers’ mouths, who do not understand why they have been penalised.
Antoni Bauzá, the President of the Association of Auto-Taxi and Self-Tourism in the Balearic Islands, explained that taxis “now have to apply a discount from a card that we do not manage, nor will we know if the person who presents it is the owner”.
Furthermore, taxis are now required to accept payment by credit cards through a POS system that must be paid for out of a driver’s own pocket and vehicles found without them at annual inspections will be fined by the City Council.