The Kanaryo Titeroygakat Social Organization, in its struggle to improve public transport and in its intentions to try to improve the quality of life of the Insular population, continues to insist on the need to increase the ...
The Kanaryo Titeroygakat Social Organization, in its struggle to improve public transport and in its intentions to try to improve the quality of life of the Insular population, continues to insist on the need to increase the number of Taxi licenses in the Capital City of Arrecife, since in this Municipality there are only 122 Taxis that do not cover the great demand for existing public transport at all.
Lanzarote and Arrecife have grown disproportionately and uncontrollably in population in a few years, and yet the minimum required services have not been increased, which is why the citizen suffers the inefficiency and lack of management of public institutions and politicians of turn.
Time in today's society is gold, therefore, our people cannot continue to be thrown at the stops wasting time and money due to poor service and the lack of resources in the taxi and bus sector.
The existing problem in public transport is serious and worrying, therefore, it is vital that the political class immediately seek solutions.
You cannot continue to listen to taxi drivers, since they, in combination with the Taxi Commonwealth of Lanzarote, are dedicated to blocking the granting of new licenses, without caring about the serious damage it causes to society, since these elements know that the fewer licenses there are, the more they will earn.
Institutional officials, by benefiting four taxi drivers, cannot harm 57,586 inhabitants of Arrecife, it is time for the governing group of the Capital City to work seriously on this problem, and taking into account the future forecast, grant once and for all the number of licenses that are really needed because that is what the population demands, which is who should really decide their needs.
The taxi driver should limit himself to doing his job and providing the service for which the license was granted correctly.
It must be taken into account that the majority of the 122 licenses work continuously 24 hours a day, for this, many of the taxi drivers have up to two and three employees, therefore, the need for licenses is very clear, it cannot continue to be allowed that 122 businessmen try to monopolize the sector trying to prevent, due to their personalized economic ambitions, more licenses from being granted when they are really needed.
For this reason and to dispel any type of doubt, and deny the comments of taxi drivers when saying that licenses are not needed, Titeroygakat has carried out a meticulous and detailed study of the need for more public transport in the Capital.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT STUDY IN ARRECIFE
In the municipality of Arrecife, after twenty years without granting new licenses, taxi professionals demanded twenty licenses in 2001, which were more than necessary, but only six were granted plus two demanded by Europe, leaving a deficit of fourteen licenses.
In 2001 there were only 114 taxis in Arrecife for a population of 46,680 inhabitants, so the ratio was one taxi for every 409 inhabitants, after granting the eight licenses, the ratio dropped to 1 taxi for every 382 inhabitants.
Today, to achieve the ratio of 1 taxi for every 382 inhabitants, a total of 28 new licenses would have to be granted, which would be fair and necessary, we must take into account that the population of Arrecife today is 57,586 inhabitants by right and that there are only 122 taxis operating in the capital.
But the 57,586 inhabitants by right is a more than unreal figure, since the actual population doubles that of the right.
More than 110,000 people circulate daily in Arrecife, as there is a large uncontrolled population living in this municipality, for example: There are those who are registered in other municipalities and live in Arrecife, also the cruise tourism and the residents of other municipalities who visit us or the days that taxis have to go up to the airport, the people who come to work or shop or those who for various reasons go to official institutions, as well as the population growth of other municipalities, since these also affect Arrecife as it is the capital city, must be taken into account.
Therefore, we are talking about the fact that the ratio in existing public transport today in Arrecife is 1 taxi for every 916 inhabitants, which more than demonstrates that it is urgently needed to grant the 28 licenses that are contemplated as necessary in this study.
We are not asking for anything crazy, since despite the granting of the licenses requested here, the speed of growth of the island would lead us to be back in the red in public transport in five or six years, which will surely happen.
These are the figures, mathematical calculations do not lead to deception, therefore, it is demonstrated that Arrecife needs to improve taxi public transport, we must take into account and not forget that the current municipal bus service does not attend as it should, among other things, because it is deficient and slow at the moment, and even if the number of existing buses were doubled, we would still have the same problem (despite the fact that in neighboring Europe public transport enjoys all the guarantees and is booming). In Arrecife currently, there is a user population of 11,517 for each of the five existing buses, therefore, the waits are endless, more than forty minutes to access this type of transport.
Taxi drivers will never recognize that there are problems in the sector and that more licenses are needed, since they have always been and will be "penny pinchers" who only seek to earn money (the more the better), without caring about the problems that the population may have.
Taxi drivers, according to them, have to work up to 12 hours to earn a miserable salary, these taxi drivers call miserable salaries the four hundred or five hundred thousand pesetas per month at least that they earn clean of dust and straw, who would catch a salary like these... There are those who work with pick and shovel many more hours and do not earn even half.
This is not hidden from politicians, therefore, less attention should be paid to taxi drivers who are a hundred and more attention to the demands of the population who are 57,586 inhabitants, the difference is obvious.
For all the above, we request:
1st. A minimum of 28 taxi licenses are granted for Arrecife.
2nd. Establish or increase the number of stops in those areas that are deprived or that by default do not meet the demand. Stops are urgently needed at the Palace of Justice, Bus Station, Altavista Centro, Lloret Shopping Area, Maneje, Los Alonso etc.
3rd. Designate a certain number of taxis for each stop, since in many of these, the wait becomes eternal, and in others, the taxis do not even pass. This fact happens day after day, despite what taxi drivers say.
4th. We understand that the regulations on Taxi licenses are not being complied with, since up to 195,476 euros are being paid for license transactions, so much speculative trading must be ended.
The Kanaryo Social Organization will again request more taxi licenses from the Arrecife City Council Plenary.
Antonio Leal Aguilar
President of Titeroygakat