This Monday, October 6, the new shift system for the public taxi service in Arrecife will come into effect, coinciding with the start of the high cruise season. The measure, agreed upon with the Sociedad Cooperativa del Autotaxi y Autoturismo de Lanzarote y San Marcial, has been launched by the Arrecife City Council through the Department of Transportation and Mobility, led by Mario González Altube.
The mayor, Yonathan de León—the only representative of Lanzarote on the Board of Directors of the Las Palmas Port Authority (APLP)—has announced that 22 cruise ship stopovers are expected in October alone, several of them coinciding on the same dates. The objective of the new shift system is to guarantee that residents continue to have enough taxis available for their journeys despite the increase in tourist demand.
A roadmap agreed upon with the sector
During the first months of the term, several meetings have been held with the taxi sector, both with the previous team and the current one in the Cooperative. These meetings resulted in a roadmap that has already materialized: updating of rates—previously among the lowest in Spain—, increasing the number of calls for exams for new drivers (five in recent months, with another underway), and the implementation of this rotating shift system on cruise days.
Last Friday, October 3, the councilor Mario González signed the decree that assigns each license to one of the groups A, B, or C—valid until December 31—to be able to pick up passengers at the Naos and Los Mármoles docks on days of stopovers. Taxis adapted for people with reduced mobility (PRM) are also included, ensuring that this service is available both in the port and in the neighborhoods. ### Operating rules
-
Taxis authorized to operate in the port on cruise days may also serve stops in the city.
-
Taxis assigned exclusively to urban stops may not go to the port area on those days.
-
The Local Police will monitor compliance to ensure that, as a minimum, 33% of the fleet remains at the municipality's stops.
-
On days without cruises, the entire fleet may operate freely.
The decree contemplates possible adjustments in case of extreme meteorological changes or modifications in the scales foreseen by the APLP.
### Shift Distribution (October 6 - December 31, 2025) * **Group A:** Licenses 1 to 42 + VA-1 and VA-2 * **Group B:** Licenses 43 to 86 + VA-3 and LM VA-32 * **Group C:** Licenses 87 to 128 LM + VA-110 and LM VA-126
