PSOE wants residents to board EMT buses before tourists

PalmaThe PSOE candidate for Mayor of Palma, Iago Negueruela, announced this Wednesday that, if the Socialists govern Cort from 2027 onwards, residents with a card will have priority to board the buses of the Municipal Transport Company (EMT), ahead of tourists. The proposal was presented coinciding with Mobility Week and aims to guarantee access to public transport for citizens who use it regularly to go to work, to the doctor, or for other obligations.

The also Secretary-General of the Socialist Group of Palma (ASP) has defended that the measure could be applied by taking advantage of the transport cards that already exist. "The cards already exist, the mechanism to make it possible," he assured. According to the socialist candidate, tourists would continue to have access to the buses, but residents who prove this status would board first when there is overcrowding.

As an example, he cited airport workers who have difficulty finding a place on the buses to return home when the stops are full of tourists, especially in spots like El Arenal and the Plaça de la Reina. "If a worker arrives late to work, they have a problem. If a tourist arrives later to walk around Palma, they have no problem at all," he stated.

The proposal would be complemented, according to Negueruela, with "more buses and new public mobility mechanisms to have more capacity." The candidate criticized that during the summer the service had been "overcrowded, super-overcrowded" and accused the municipal government of not having reinforced public transport enough for residents.

Negueruela also pointed out that priority for residents is already applied in other European cities, such as Venice, and has defended that the EMT "is not a tourist service," but rather "a service designed for the citizenry."