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An appeal filed by the Government, the Balearic Business Federation of Transport and taxi employers to stop uber-type licences being issued in the Balearic Islands has been thrown out of court.

It means that Alsa-Irisbus and Inversiones Andalucía 2014 SL will be granted 225 VTC licences for the Balearics Islands and no more appeals can be filed, so the sentence is firm and mandatory.

There are currently 16 companies operating in the Balearic Islands, with a total of 211 VTC licenses; 155 in Mallorca, 50 in Ibiza and 6 in Minorca.

Concern

FEBT manager Salvador Servera said he was surprised and concerned about the Court's decision.

”We are in a very delicate situation because of the coronavirus pandemic and we will have to see how these new licences affect VTC, taxis and minibuses," he said. "We will also analyse what happened in depth, because it will mean doubling the number of licences in a Sector which is inoperative because of the pandemic.

This news is a huge blow and we will have to make sure that the new licensees meet all the regional requirements,” said CAEB President Antoni Bauzá. "The new licensees will be able to operate in all of the Balearic Islands which is something that doesn’t happen now, so there will be more competition and the new companies will break the market."

The President of the Autonomous Taxi Association of Mallorca, Biel Moragues, was much more critical.

It’s a disaster and will have a negative impact on our Sector by increasing competition in a situation of inoperability, so we will be monitoring the whole process,” he said.

"We will abide by the court ruling, we have no choice,” said the Director General of Mobility & Land Transport, Jaume Mateu. "We will be extra vigilant and very scrupulous to make sure companies that submit specifications meet all of the requirements."