Mallorca's buses - The revolution has not been realised

The PP highlighted an unfavourable audit report of February 2010 regarding an increase in bus frequencies and extension of the service. Among other things, this report stated that it would be useful to know what the average deficit of bus lines was in terms of passenger numbers and stressed the need for an analysis of spending on public transport in order to adjust this to the finance that was actually available. This, note, was a report when Marc Pons was the Council president.

One has to bear in mind that this was at a time of financial crisis and when the PP had won elections at island level and for the Balearic government. Their policies were to be those of austerity, so this formed the background to criticism of socialist public transport policy prior to the 2011 elections.

Between 2011 and 2015, it is fair to say, public transport in Menorca and in the rest of the Balearics did not overly benefit from investment or forward planning. Come the elections in 2015, and the left-wing coalitions reformed. Marc Pons was initially the Balearic government minister for the presidency. In 2016 he became minister for territory, energy and mobility. And after the 2019 election, he retained mobility until 2021 when he left the government for a post in Madrid.

While the left-wing administration had taken office in 2015 with a promise of improved public transport, it wasn't until Pons became mobility minister that the profile of public transport really started to acquire prominence. He was an enthusiast, as had been demonstrated in Menorca; too much of an enthusiast for the PP's liking.

He planned a revolution for the bus network in Mallorca. It was to take somewhat longer than had been initially suggested. Report followed report and then there was a legal challenge to the system of concessions for routes that this revolution entailed - just three providers for areas of the island. In January 2021, there was an unveiling, President Armengol saying that this was the launch of "a new service that will represent a revolution in public road transport in Mallorca".

It was a revolution that involved the spending of 479 million euros over a four-year period. There were more and different routes, greater frequencies and more than 200 new buses, the vast majority of them powered by compressed natural gas. There were some electric buses, while diesel had been phased out. It was the result of five years' work. A month later, Marc Pons left for Madrid.

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Whatever criticisms there may have been of his time in Menorca and however much eyebrows might have been raised at the government's bus network investment, the revolution had been necessary, not least because of the lack of attention given to public transport between 2011 and 2015. It was a project that Pons drove (so to speak). Prior to his having become minister and after he ceased to be minister, the profile of public transport was far lower, save for what was supposed to have been the stellar project of the Palma tram, which does now look in doubt.

Almost incidental to this revolution was the introduction of the Aerotib bus routes from the airport to coastal resorts, a Pons scheme that initially faced a good deal of resistance from the taxi associations. Launched in 2017 it wasn't a great success, but publicity was enhanced, routes were revised and so last year - as an example - the Mallorca Transport Consortium was able to report that from April to the first week of August there had been 387,000 passengers. In pre-pandemic 2019, there had been 161,000 by the end of August.

So popular has Aerotib proved to be that an opposition party, Més, has called on the government to operate the routes all year rather than stop them at the end of October. While there are obviously far fewer tourists in winter, residents have come to rely on them. Included among them are people who work at the airport. Més argue that it is "unacceptable that some residents have to depend on whether or not there is tourism in order to be able to travel".

Demand for Aerotib and for all buses on the island network (excluding Palma, which has its own bus company) has undoubtedly risen this year because of free travel for residents, about which there is uncertainty as to whether it will continue in 2024; it won't be continuing in Palma. The total number of passengers on TIB routes for 2023 won't of course be known until the New Year, but it is bound to have risen from the 22,111,325 in 2022. And that figure was almost six million more than in pre-pandemic 2019.

Marc Pons and the coalition made a commitment to the bus network. Simply in terms of passenger numbers, the so-called revolution has arrived - in part at any rate. But despite the apparent success, there are criticisms of services. Maybe increased demand simply raises expectations ever higher, or is it the case that the network, regardless of changes over the past few years, remains deficient?

The PP, both government and Council of Mallorca, have not appeared to be on the same public transport mission as the coalition was. They have, for sure, refrained from any talk of revolution. But what have they said? The president of the Council, Llorenç Galmés, has largely confined himself to adding to the criticisms. "Improving public transport will be one of our priorities. Both bus and train connections and frequencies must be improved to make them a real alternative to the private vehicle. The current public transport is deficient and insufficient. We have to reverse this situation."

Fine, but how? And as to deficiency, is this charge really justified when one thinks back some eight years or so? The revolution may not have been realised, but the bus network is a heck of a lot better than it was.