Tighter controls on car hire. | Gemma Andreu

TW
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The El Pi party is proposing that the regional government establishes a maximum limit to the number of hire cars in the Balearics. In making this proposal, the party points to the saturation of the road network each summer, and its leader, Jaume Font, is to ask President Armengol in parliament tomorrow what steps are going to be taken to avoid this situation.

El Pi is urging the government to present a feasibility study, the objective of which would be to establish a maximum limit and so prevent a repeat of the problem of road overcrowding this summer. Among measures it is seeking are that car-hire firms pay a road tax in the Balearics (those firms which bring cars in from the mainland, that is) or that they need to be established in the Balearics for some years.

The party argues that traffic congestion has been mainly caused by the number of hire cars. This, in turn, leads to complaints from residents and other road users. Regulation should, therefore, be a government priority.

The measure would be in line with the proposal from the Council of Majorca last week (also made by El Pi) for a tax on hire cars being shipped to Majorca for the summer season.