<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Transport]]> 10 <![CDATA[Independents de sa Pobla denounces that the Government wants to close the 315 line and demands that it functions all year round]]>

Independents de sa Pobla – Coalition for Mallorca demands that the Government of the Balearic Islands maintain the TIB line 315 throughout the year and fulfill the agreement approved by the City Council plenary session on May 7th. The political group denounces that, six months after the motion was passed, none of the requested measures have been implemented and that the autonomous Executive, as it asserts, is determined to close the service.

]]> <![CDATA[Go down to Palma, phew]]> Going down to Palma has become one of those things one does because there is no other choice. I go to my mother's place, to the house where I was born, and also to work. I don't go there for tourism, but lately I always have the feeling that, to get there, I have to cross a world that has invaded the place where I need to pass. I even have to have a special permit to enter this part of the city. Those who saturate it, however, do not need any authorization to do so.

]]> <![CDATA[To evaluate, counter-intuit. The purposes of the subsidies]]> It is well known that in the Islands we have heavily subsidized mobility. Is this the way to supposedly compensate for the costs of insularity? I am not sure that it is. Does the fact that the intercity bus is free for users help make goods cheaper? I would rather say no, to the extent that it inflates demand. Perhaps transport does not have to cover costs in full with its fares, but it is good that we all know the cost of things and what the objective of the reduction is. And, as we have learned with the elimination of tolls, zero cost does not exist: someone else is paying for it. I also do not see the current operation of discounts on ship and plane transport for island residents as being at all clear, when we should instead focus on freight rates if anything. Certainly, transport discounts are on the backs of all Spaniards, in the same way that the deficits of peninsular trains that we islanders do not have are also partly at our expense. But this second justification does not make the first one good. It also makes no sense that, given the subsidies, the taxi transfer from the airport ends up being more expensive than the plane ticket. I do not see in all assumptions sufficient evaluated evidence of positive externalities for such subsidized mobility, nor a sufficient argument for equity, in view of who its greatest beneficiaries are. And the fact is that I verify that there are many false residents who register in the Islands without effectively living there. They are processes of almost free choice, with little cost to those who exercise them, and which benefit the most clever, who are usually the most well-off. Recently this effect has also been verified with the free choice of doctor in the Spanish healthcare system. The richest and most educated know how to take better advantage of it. The lack of effective control otherwise incentivizes the abuse of subsidies. It would be better to have a subsidy system that establishes blackout dates; for example, at the point of origin, entries to the Islands on peninsular long weekends or weekends, and the equivalent at the destination for the same residents traveling to the Peninsula, or setting a lower percentage of subsidy in these mentioned cases. And to prevent companies from taking advantage of it by selectively increasing the prices to which the discount is applied. A fake resident suffers, currently only, as a cost of their fraudulent choice, the fact of not having a primary care physician in the place of effective residence. But the fact that this does not matter already tells us that it is about fairly wealthy people who probably have private insurance and do not use public primary care. With the upcoming limitation of vehicle entries in the summer, it is also necessary to analyze the measure with a magnifying glass regarding the cars of fake residents who pay circulation taxes outside the Islands. And, of course, the large car rental multinationals that seasonally bring in huge fleets of vehicles that have paid taxes outside of our home.However, I do not think some penalties are bad, such as the fact that the fees for some services, such as waste collection, for example, do not distinguish based on the lower use of holiday homes, since the fixed part of the cost and maintenance, more or less, depends on the peaks in demand for which those non-residents are equally decisive. I do believe that volume should have a significant influence on businesses, especially those that are highly seasonal, as they are the ones that set the maximum installed capacity to meet peak demand. Certainly, the regulation of fees, unlike public prices, cannot have net collection effects, but only cost recovery. But if this applies to the full cost of the service, it is necessary to check how this amount is reached, since important issues of efficiency and equitable distribution are at stake. Everything mentioned implies the need to evaluate the measures, particularly the populist ones, as they often have effects different from those postulated. The latest one from the current Spanish government, which extends to 52 years the age of exit from the market for those already considered non-relocatable, with a guaranteed income and a pre-established pension, is an unequivocal case. This measure harms many of those who still strive to work and provide for their own pension by paying contributions that ensure minimum periods, paid out of pocket as the self-employed that they are, even during periods without income. It would be better for them to quit given what they earn and that theirs will be a lower pension than those who have stopped working and live on subsidies and what they can collect from activities without an invoice.

]]> <![CDATA[Eight entities charge against the 350 million of the second beltway of Palma]]>

Eight entities linked to mobility, trains, cycling, and territory defense have questioned the second Palma beltway project, presented this week by the Council of Mallorca with a projected investment of 350 million euros. GOB, the Train Users Association, Vianants Mallorca, Terraferida, Friends of the Earth, Anti-Highway Platform, Maria Poble Petit Platform, and Sineu en Bici i a Peu consider that the action does not respond to the mobility needs of a large part of the island.

]]> <![CDATA[Politicians look for culprits and citizens, home]]>

It can be listed in any order, but the fact is that housing, saturation, and mobility are the major structural problems that the citizens of the Balearic Islands have been dragging since the beginning of the last legislature, that of the Pact. Governments, headlines, announcements, and press conferences have passed, but the difficulties have shown their resilience and public policies have not even been able to diminish them.

]]> <![CDATA[Public transport will remain free in the Balearic Islands in 2026]]>

The Spanish Congress of Deputies definitively approved the Sustainable Mobility Law this Thursday, which includes a key amendment for the Balearic Islands: free public transport starting in 2026. The measure, which will also apply to the Canary Islands, was championed by Senator Juanjo Ferrer, representing Ibiza and Formentera, and included in the text that the Senate is sending to the Senda (a political platform). The initiative received support from the People's Party (PP), the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), and Vicenç Vidal, a deputy from Sumar-MÁS, among others. Both the PP and the eco-sovereignists and United Left celebrated the approval, which they consider "beneficial for the citizens of the Islands." Vidal emphasized that the inclusion of the amendment was made possible thanks to "tenacious diplomacy aimed at shifting the PSOE's stance towards the interests of the Balearic Islands," a strategy pursued jointly with Ferrer. "This measure is fair and necessary: we are an island territory with limited public transport, high costs, and a heavy reliance on private vehicles. Guaranteeing free public transport means mobility for everyone, especially families and young people, and it is both strategic and environmentally friendly," stated the eco-sovereignist deputy. From the People's Party, the deputy spokesperson in Congress, José Vicente Marí Bosó, emphasized his party's role in the Senate: "Without the PP's vote today, the amendment could not have been brought to Congress. Thanks to the PP, free public transport has been ratified in 2026," adding that they paid for it. For his part, the head of Institutional Policy for United Left of the Balearic Islands, Óscar Rodríguez, described the decision as "a victory for the work of the senator from Ibiza and Formentera and the progressive forces." Rodríguez has insisted that one of her party's objectives is for free public transport "to become a permanent right for the citizens of the Balearic Islands" and has called on the regional government to "improve the funding for the transfer of land transport responsibilities to the island councils, which is currently underfunded, to guarantee the sustainability of the measure and improve the service."

]]> <![CDATA["We don't want to remove the cars, we want people to be able to coexist on the street."]]>

Jaume Henrik Bergas Rydenfors was born in Santa Ponça in 1980. He is the son of a family born from the love that arose from that firstboomtourist. On the one hand, linked to the hospitality industry and, on the other, to farming, to village life. Now, Jaume has been living in Sineu for more than twenty years, where he has promoted –along with other neighbors– the project 'Sined on bike and on foot',An initiative that aims to promote safer, healthier, and more sustainable mobility, especially for children. Bergas studied Geography and went on to study Agricultural Engineering. Now, however, he has dedicated himself wholeheartedly to improving mobility in Sineu, and perhaps even the rest of Mallorca. That's why he's pursuing a Master's degree in Sustainable Mobility. Thus, the initiative that began to facilitate his children's access to school has led him down a different path.

]]> <![CDATA[New problems at SFM: a closed station and desperate passengers]]>

A user reported a new problem on the Mallorca train network. This morning, the Constancia/Hospital de Inca station was closed for unknown reasons, and passengers were unable to access the platform. The train followed its usual route and stopped at the station, but this time it departed without passengers.

]]> <![CDATA[Protests in Mallorca's medical transport system have been called off.]]>

The works council, made up of CCOO, UGT, USAE, and FS-TES, and the Balearic Islands Health and Healthcare Management Department (GSAIB) have ratified the agreement in principle they reached on Tuesday, and the workers have definitively called off the protests in the medical transport sector in Mallorca. According to Europa Press, both parties met this Thursday at the Balearic Islands Arbitration and Mediation Court (TAMIB) to finalize the agreement in principle they reached earlier this week.

]]> <![CDATA[Third day of strikes at the TIB with 96% support: the indefinite strike is approaching.]]>

The labor dispute that erupted at the TIB reached its third day of strikes this Wednesday after employers proposed a new collective bargaining agreement with a four-year salary increase of approximately 8% to 12%, which the unions rejected. Participation in this strike in Mallorca reached 96% at 11:30 a.m., according to data from the Ministry of Housing, Territory, and Mobility.

]]> <![CDATA[Delays and long lines: another day of strike by TIB workers]]>

TIB workers are carrying out the second day of strikes this Monday in a series of demonstrations that began on Friday to demand that their demands be accepted in the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement. This second day began early in the morning and was felt at bus stations across the islands, where delays and long lines of passengers accumulated.

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