Hundreds of students are left without transportation due to the lack of public transport to the Joan Taix Vocational Training Center

For the past two years, history has been repeating itself, and every day more families join the struggle. In Pollença, Alcudia, Santa Margalida, Muro, and Can Picafort, the anxiety of arriving on time to the Joan Taix Integrated Vocational Training Center in Sa Pobla has become a collective battle affecting more than 600 students throughout the northern region. It's a problem that no one is resolving and, according to the families, is jeopardizing their future careers before they even begin. The situation hasn't changed in recent years despite the protests: young people arrive late due to public transport schedules and routes, and these delays translate into absences that count. And they count for a lot. Under current regulations, accumulating 25% absences means losing a place in the vocational training program. And the students at Joan Taix are simply at a disadvantage. "The bus drops them off at the Sa Pobla cemetery, and they have to walk across the entire town to get to the center. They're late every day," explains Maria Antònia, the mother of one of the affected students. She's not speaking for herself: she's speaking on behalf of dozens of families who have been living with this stressful, anxious routine of impossible deadlines for two years. "If they're five minutes late and there's an exam, they're not allowed in. And that's an unexcusable absence. We find it unfair because it's not up to them," she laments. A struggle that goes back a long way

This mother vividly remembers that when she studied at the same school, they were already experiencing a similar problem. Even so, the situation was better: "There was a bus that picked up students from Pollença and took them directly to Joan Taix. Santa Margalida and Muro traveled together on another bus, and Alcúdia and Pollença shared a route. All of this was provided by the Consell de Mallorca." Nowadays, however, students have to navigate a real obstacle course: "From Pollença, the bus arrives at approximately 7:30 a.m., but classes start at 8:00 a.m. A simple delay and they're already late." From Santa Margalida, they have to leave at six in the morning for Inca to catch the train to Sa Pobla. From Can Picafort and Muro, they depend on equally precarious connections," she says.

And all this to make a journey that, under normal circumstances, should be covered by school transport adapted to the current reality: more vocational training programs, more students, and greater need.

"We don't understand how before, with far fewer vocational training students, there were dedicated buses and now there aren't," says the mother, who maintains that the situation has worsened since the elimination of line 315—the one that, in summer, does reach the Sa Pobla train station. Since then, the only response from TIB has been that increasing service hours is not feasible.

Administrations that wash their hands of the matter

The families' stories share a common thread: the passing of responsibilities. At the school, they are told it depends on the Regional Ministry of Education, which responds that it's a matter for the municipalities; and between the town councils and the Transport Consortium, "the ball goes back and forth while solutions never arrive," they lament. "They keep passing the buck. Nobody takes responsibility," summarized another mother from the same school. At the Pollença Town Hall, they explain that there have been meetings with the Transport Consortium, but without any response. The Sa Pobla Town Hall has proposed the implementation of an intercity bus service as the only option. Meanwhile, every morning the students arrive late—or not at all. The families' request is as simple as making possible what already existed a decade ago: coordinated, public school transport from the affected municipalities to the school. To reinforce this demand, they have already collected more than 250 signatures through an ongoing campaign. Change.org.

Emotional and academic consequences

The families we spoke to all agree: what worries them most is not just being late, but what it implies. The students live in anxiety, constantly checking the clock, with the feeling of starting each day at a disadvantage.

"My daughter sees how her classmates can't do knife fights and they're really struggling. It affects their motivation and performance. They're worried, tense, and genuinely afraid of losing their place," she explains.

The pressure isn't just on them: many families start work quickly and are forced to arrive late to take their children because they have no other option. Others simply don't have a driver's license or the availability. All of this turns a simple commute into an obstacle course that affects their entire daily lives.

A painful conclusion

The story of these students from the rural areas is not an isolated case. It serves as yet another example of a recurring pattern in the Balearic Islands: when summer arrives, public transport is reinforced to cater to tourism; when winter arrives, the needs of residents diminish. In the Balearic Islands, when the summer sun sets, many services dwindle. And for 600 students from northern Mallorca, getting to class becomes an ordeal if they want to use public transport.