The Arrecife City Council has reported that it will guarantee rotating shifts during the 24 hours of the day for public taxis throughout the city. This was stated in a press release from the council. The municipal body will ensure the permanent presence of these vehicles throughout the city, and especially when cruise ships arrive.
These measures, which will come into effect in the coming weeks, have already been transferred to the taxi sector.
The mayor of the city, Yonathan de León, and the Councilor for Mobility and Transport, Mario González Altube, had a first contact last summer with the cooperative society of taxi and car tourism of Lanzarote and San Marcial, to adopt measures that reinforce a better taxi transport service in the city.
The mayor had stated in different interviews with the media that, with the start of this new year, the City Council would implement measures to avoid the situations that occur in the city when several cruise ships arrive simultaneously, or that people with reduced mobility do not have adapted taxis at night or on weekends.
In recent meetings, to refine the new regulation of these services, the municipal officials informed the taxi collective in the capital that the Arrecife City Council would arbitrate this shift formula to guarantee the presence of taxis during the 24 hours of the day, and especially regulate services at the cruise ship dock, when the ocean liners arrive, to protect local residents and their mobility needs.
The Councilor for Transport and Mobility, Mario González Altube, has reported that "there will be two different shifts, a rotating shift on days when there are cruise ships, which will last 24 hours and will bring together a certain number of licenses serving cruise ships, and another specific shift at the stops in the neighborhoods and the city center, to guarantee the public taxi service to resident citizens. These shifts will rotate every day, according to the licenses assigned to the cruise ship dock and those that must cover the city, so that there is an equitable distribution."
When there are no cruise ships, the Arrecife City Council will apply, as the councilor informs, a normal shift that is divided into morning, afternoon, and night (with asymmetrical percentages according to the number of licenses) with the obligation that a high percentage of night shifts work, at least, to cover the needs of citizens during these hours. The Transport and Mobility Area already has the criteria for them to be rotating, which has been transferred to the sector in these last meetings.
The Arrecife City Council, within the measures to improve the taxi service in the capital of Lanzarote, will urge that the T3 rate be established.
Mario González Altube has stated that, for a better planning of the taxi service in the municipality, and as a whole on the island, the capital City Council is in favor of insularizing the system of exams and calls to seek linearity and equity on the island, which allows to have more professionals working in the taxi sector. Until now, the exams are by municipality to obtain the card that enables the driving of taxis in a certain municipality. Arrecife, since last summer, has made two special calls.
Among the measures, which would also improve the public taxi service, would be the creation of a single taxi switchboard for receiving calls and managing specific moments such as saturation in ports and airports, or exceptional events that concentrate a large influx of people.
Technology allows to know in real time the location of the vehicle and license in a certain area.
