The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, thanks the taxi sector for the agreement reached to improve the service during Holy Week, and considers that “the document that we have agreed with the cooperatives, establishing a Joint Provision Zone at the island level, should mark the path to reach an understanding that definitively improves the provision of the service on the Island”.
In this context, Oswaldo Betancort commits to “convene the Island Taxi Board in April with the presence of cooperatives, City Councils and Cabildo, which will be constituted with the aim of analyzing in detail the situation of the sector and contribute among all parties to improve it”.
Accompanied by the island councilor of Transport, Domingo Cejas, the president of the Cabildo held a meeting this past Thursday with the presidents of the Ajey-Tamia and Norte y Sur cooperatives that resulted in the agreed drafting of a resolution by which the Cabildo declares, on an exceptional and temporary basis, a Joint Provision Zone at the island level for the period between 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27 and 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 31.
As regulated by the resolution, only taxis with the required island authorization may provide services in said Joint Provision Zone, prohibiting taxis from a specific municipality from queuing or taking turns at stops in other municipal districts, as well as circulating outside their municipality in order to attract customers, unless they are previously required to perform a service outside their municipal district.
Passenger pick-up services may be provided indistinctly by vehicles that are domiciled in municipalities other than the pick-up municipality, regardless of whether the destination of such services is located in the municipality to which it is attached, provided that the taxi in question has arrived occupied at its destination to drop off passengers.
Airport
At the Airport, as established by the resolution, the pick-up of passengers “will be possible by taxis from outside that municipality, as long as there are queues of people waiting for taxis that exceed the limits marked by the pedestrian crossings existing in the arrival areas of Terminal T1, and if necessary, authorize the City Council of San Bartolomé to request, through the means, coordinators or entities it deems appropriate, taxi reinforcements to other municipalities”.
In the seaports of general interest -it is added- the pick-up of passengers “will be possible by taxis from outside that municipality, provided that there are no taxis from that municipality available, and if necessary, authorize the affected City Councils to request, through the means or entities that are considered appropriate, taxi reinforcements to other municipalities”.
In those specific points of a municipality, when the taxi transport needs are not sufficiently met with the taxi licenses residing in that municipality, the City Councils are authorized to request, through the means or entities they deem appropriate, taxi reinforcements to other municipalities.
Regarding the control and inspection functions aimed at verifying the application and compliance of the Joint Provision Zone, the document indicates that “they will be reserved for the Inspection Services of the Cabildo, being able to act in collaboration with the members of the Local Police in urban roads, as well as in collaboration with the remaining Security Forces and Bodies in charge of the control and surveillance of transport on interurban roads”.
The resolution will be notified to the City Councils of the Island, to the North and South Taxi Cooperative of Lanzarote, to the Cooperative Society of Taxi and Tourism of Lanzarote San Marcial, and to the Cooperative Society of Taxi Drivers Ajey-Tamia, as well as to the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard and Local Police of Lanzarote.