There’s a four letter word doing the rounds here in Mallorca. It’s a word that’s known the World over but here on the island it’s never actually surfaced. Until now that is. I know what you’re thinking but it isn’t that! I’m talking about UBER.
Now for the uninitiated, like me for instance who has never actually used the service. Here’s how it works.
It is an independent taxicab company that hires drivers who use their personal vehicles while logged into the Uber app on a mobile device. Passengers request rides using the app, inputting pick-up and drop-off locations, and all payment is done through a pre-authorised credit card right through the app.
You basically choose which car and driver you want and order the service.
As of early 2023, Uber’s monthly users had grown to 130 million. It operates in 72 countries, in over 10,000 cities with over 7.6 billion trips carried out. But guess what? In Spain it hasn’t really taken off. The City in Spain with the biggest number of Uber drivers is Madrid, whereas Barcelona only has a few. Although unpopular amongst many normal taxi drivers I’m told that on the mainland quite a few of them will download the Uber app and work extra hours as an Uber driver. Here in the Balearics Uber has been a dirty word up until now mainly because of the Spanish regulations around taxi drivers.
In Spain, to gain a normal taxi license, you have to:
- Submit a medical certificate proving that you do not suffer from an infectious or contagious disease or any physical disability that would prevent you from operating a taxi.
- Pass a theoretical and practical exam.
- In certain areas, prove that you can speak Catalan.
- Continue to pay for mandatory licensing and maintenance fees.
The cost of a licence in Palma is 120,000€! Yes you read that right. That’s just the licence it doesn’t include a car, that’s an extra expense. Quite a lot of the licences are bought by big companies who employ drivers to drive for them. Or some drivers share a car and then the costs and profits between themselves to gain the maximum from a 24 hour working day.
So 40 Uber cars have started working here in Mallorca much to the angst of the normal taxi drivers. Now on the one hand I understand their arguement because of the expense they’ve laid out. But let’s look at this logically and I probably don’t know anyone who hasn’t had a problem trying to get a cab in the summer. They’re just aren’t enough to go around and if we want to keep tourism as our biggest industry and people to keep returning, then we need to move with the times. We need to think of the consumer and there are more than enough tourists as well as residents to go around to accommodate both the taxi drivers and the Uber drivers. I understand that in the winter that is not always the case but that’s the problem with the Balearics as a whole, it’s either feast or famine. And that’s an argument for another day. Competition never hurt anyone and in reality it should drive(no pun intended)to better customer service.
Congratulations to Manchester City on their treble win last weekend. As an Arsenal fan it pains me to say it. But I’m pleased for one of the coaching staff who is from the island. Carlos Vicens who was born in Colonia de San Jordi and started his career as the academy director and assistant manager at CD Llosetense. He joined City’s academy in 2017 and after a successful season in 20-21 as a Head Coach of the U18s, winning the FA Youth Cup and being crowned U18 Premier League National Champions, he was promoted to the first team as Assistant Coach under Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2021.
I hope they take a back seat next year and give the rest of us a chance.
Enjoy your weekend!
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.00-10am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com
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