The increase in the arrival of tourists and the lack of rental cars is creating a transportation problem for people visiting the island, especially in the municipality of Yaiza. In fact, this City Council has had to formally request help from the municipality of Tías, so that taxi drivers can pick up passengers in Yaiza on time.
“There are tourists in hotels who even see their chances of catching their flight on time in danger, and we cannot allow that and it must be solved. That is why help was requested, as has been done on other occasions, when there are specific moments of a lot of work, so that they can provide urgent and priority services,” explained the mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda.
In principle, the measure was adopted for this holiday weekend, and covers from October 30th to next Sunday, November 7th, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. “The priority is the transfer to the airport, so that tourists can catch their return flight, because if not they may miss it,” the mayor reiterated.
However, he believes that it is not a problem of shortage of licenses but a cyclical issue, due to the fact that rental cars have been reduced. And it is that many rent a car companies sold vehicles when the activity stopped at the beginning of the pandemic and have not yet recovered the entire fleet. “Different things are happening. The first is that rental cars are not starting up, because there are no cars. They don't finish buying those new ones and therefore tourists often use taxis even for excursions. Then you can see seven vehicles on an excursion where you lose staff,” Noda pointed out on Radio Lanzarote – Onda Cero.
In addition, he points out that Playa Blanca “seems to be having more demand than other municipalities.” That is why they asked Tías for help, given that they are also part of the same taxi cooperative. Mainly, what is being done is allowing taxi drivers from that municipality to cover the Puerto Calero area for specific reinforcements, and even reach other areas if necessary.
The expansion of taxi licenses, under study
Regarding the future, he has announced that they have already commissioned a market study to analyze whether it is really necessary to increase the number of licenses. “It must be studied because I still think it is a cyclical issue,” insisted the mayor, who in any case anticipates that more taxis could be required when the expansion of the Playa Blanca dock is completed. “If cruises arrive, there may be future situations that should be analyzed now and not wait until the last minute. So that study will be done to assess what it may yield,” he specified.
However, he recalls that in the past they also had “complaints that there were crowds of taxis”, at a time “when they don't work so much.” “That is why we must take into account the cyclical nature of rental cars, because if that did not happen, perhaps taxis would not be used so much for excursions,” he reiterated, pointing out that if they issue more licenses “and then it turns out that the taxis are crowded and there is no work, in the end someone is going to have to lose.”
As for the immediate future, he points out that after that week in which the specific reinforcement has been requested, they will see “how that demand evolves” and he hopes that “the problem can be solved”, which he hopes "will not get worse.”
