By Fiona Jennison.
My adorable little brother who lives in Madrid came down to visit us with his Julia Roberts-look-a-like girlfriend to go to a wedding in Javea recently. A lovely time was had by all and the festivities wound down at about 3 am in the Arenal whereupon the tired little teddy bears started to phone for taxis. My brother and his girlfriend ended up having to wait for an hour and a half towards the end of which the not-just-a-pretty-face “Julia” hid the car keys from my brother fearing that he was close to cracking and driving home. The next day he admitted that he had been very close to doing so.
Mid-season, and no taxis available within a civilised time frame, in the most populated area of bars in Javea. The taxi home, a journey of 15 minutes, cost 25 euros. More expensive than in Madrid.
Particularly in the light of the recent tragedies due to drivers under the influence it seems a real shame that taxis are not more affordable or available. That we don´t have Uber in the Costa. Or night buses or some kind of subsidised transport for young people who find it very difficult to afford taxis. Or “ScooterMan”.
To research the issue, I posted words to this effect on Javea Connect. Goodness gracious me. What a bombardment of opinions ensued.
Many people got on some very high horses indeed. Utterly outraged that transport should be subsidised for young people and maintaining that if they can afford to go out drinking then (apparently) they can also afford taxis home. Others barked that we should have done our research before moving here re the public transport system. One chap said he was sick of Spain being knocked and that if we don´t like it we can all go home. One lady was “mindboggled” that we were even having the conversation.
Can I get a mortgage on that please, Driver?
There was no disputing that the prices of taxis here are to put it mildly a tad on the steep side. Well, there was one chap who claimed that if the taxis charged lower prices there would be even less taxis. But everyone else agreed to agree that taxi prices are a rip off, with one injured and incapacitated gentleman revealing that he had recently paid 11 euros for his Indian dinner to be delivered from 1,5 km away, a journey that took three minutes. Steeper than the Montgo itself it seems. Let’s hope the curry blew his mind!
There were many posts about the insufficient number of taxis and I received many frustrated messages privately from young people, especially in Moraira, who were fed up with worrying their parents by not being able to get home at the prearranged time.
Jen Poole wrote “I’ve been stranded places with my disabled mother because there aren’t enough accessible taxis. You can’t order taxis via an app or a website, you have to call them, as if modern technology doesn’t exist here. It’s not all about young people because practically everyone I know thinks it’s okay to have a few wines with dinner and then drive home, which I personally wouldn’t do, but when it’s that or pay an extra €20-50 EVERY time you go out you can understand why people take the risk. For an unreliable, old-fashioned service, the rates are extortionate.”
Lydia Coltman is a mum who had done more than her fair share (with no fare!) of driving her kids around in the middle of the night added “seems the Taxi Union (or whatever) has a strong grip on local laws of what can and can’t be done and on competition. Taxis from other villages can’t pick up in Orba yet we don’t have a taxi anymore (they can drop off).” Blimey. That´s not right. Orba is very nice and all that, but I reckon the residents need to go out on the lash somewhere else sometimes!
Oh for Uber
There was much support for the idea of the somewhat controversial but cheap company Uber, although Uber have had a “super duber rough ride” in Spain, with many protests from taxi drivers worried about their jobs (why couldn´t they just become Uber drivers?) Keith Smith told us this heartening true story “When I first lived in Moscow 15 years ago taxis were rare and expensive so there was a whole illegal industry of people flagging private cars on the street. Now the system is licensed and at least 3 big companies are operating with good cars and instant bookings through smartphone apps. It’s excellent. Here it seems the taxi mafia don’t want to give that up. Same in Moscow but the authorities pushed it through as they understood it was for the common good.” Dino Vervoort brought us back to probable Spanish reality with “This problem will never change as long the office who arrange the license for taxis doesn´t change. The last couple of years in Barcelona the prices for a license to drive a taxi was more then 500 times more expensive then few years before. A normal “licencia” is 100.000€ and upwards”.
Wow. Surely wannabe taxi drivers here should WANT to go “Uber” then?!
Driving it home on a positive note?
The debate did uncover some very positive ideas. Charlie Ferguson pointed out that Airbnb or cheap hotels can work out to be cheaper than a taxi home – and a lot more fun no doubt. Charlie was in favour of asking Beni-Connect if they would be interested in running a night bus service (I phoned and emailed the owner Charlie – no reply yet. Maybe they are not nuts about the idea of driving squiffy youngsters around at night – but an individual wanting to set up a mini-bus business wrote to me. Fingers crossed.)
Helen King told us about a “tres bien” set up in France “One person in a group of four gets a stamp on their hand; it says the equivalent of “designated driver for a car of 4”. All night they get free drinks in the bars that operate this system, soft drinks, coffees, water 0% beer etc.” Ca, cést tres bien ca!
Someone very sensibly suggested that we ask the bars of Javea and Moraira to contribute to the costs of a night bus, and of course if enough of them signed up it would cost peanuts for each peanut-possessing bar. Another person suggested Red Bull as a sponsor.
A fine young man called Deklan Burford who finds it a nightmare getting on and off the Montgo chipped in literally offering to chip in “I’d gladly pay 20/30€ a month for transport that drops me 10/15min away from my house.”
Someone reminded us that Linea Directa do offer rides home for those who have imbibed, strictly for those younger than 26. I spoke to Linea Directa (well tried to speak to someone in English or Spanish) and asked them if there was a minimum number of times this service could be used per year. Apparently not! Not sure I trust what I was told but surely well worth investigating for your youngsters.
Anita Dixon suggested “run the tourist trains for a flat rate around the main areas of the towns”. Great idea! Party on the train, and get home cheaply and safely. I love it.
I leave you with the tale of an amusing friend who named his dog Taxi. So friend calls out “Taxi” when out and about and has his dog bound up to him at the same time as a surly bloke in a smelly car. Who then drives off even surlier. He he he.