May I ask a question? How many of you are particularly bothered whether there is a flat-rate inter-island flight tariff or not? May I ask a second question? How many of you are working yourselves up into a lather over a change to the residents' flight discount as it applies to certain group travel that is to be introduced later this month?
If there are any of you, then please raise your hands and make yourselves known. I'm guessing there have to be some. But relative to the amount of media attention both these questions are being given, the numbers, I would hazard a further guess, are disproportionately low. Put it this way, I am unaware of social media (or other forms of communication) having approached meltdown because of public angst.
Citizens' response to both questions has been less to do with the minutiae of the new arrangement for group travel and the proposal for an inter-island flat rate than with their politics. The Balearic government will be satisfied that this is the case. It has spent most of its time in office berating Madrid about absolutely everything. The flights' issues are part of the overall scheme of berating things.
Travel arrangements and deals for people in the Balearics should be as advantageous as possible. Living on islands in the Mediterranean demands that they should be. Government objections to the group travel discount change and its anger with Congress over blocking the inter-island flat rate are understandable within the context of seeking advantages. But both form part of the wider narrative that characterises the current administration. Madrid is the enemy and Madrid does everything in its power to make life difficult for the people of the Balearics.
The regional government wants a completely different overall deal for the islands. It's known as the special economic regime, a somewhat arcane device that involves financing, taxation, transport, infrastructure and more. Madrid is being obstructive in granting a new deal. But is it the enemy that it is made about to be? On financing, on investment, even on the flat-rate tariff, it has expressed willingness.
Penalising the Balearics, as far as the Palma government is concerned, is a political decision because of differing political ideologies and an unthinking one because Madrid fails to recognise the particular needs of the Balearic archipelago. There may be some truth in both these beliefs, especially the latter, but Madrid is commanded by a higher authority. The Rajoy government cannot willy-nilly ignore the requirements of Brussels.
The flat-rate tariff is subject to Brussels approval. The Spanish government cannot just sign it off. The funding for the tariff is subject to the Spanish government's budget, over which Brussels has its say. Twenty odd million more may not be a huge amount in overall terms, but if every region were to come up with schemes demanding such funding - and be granted them - then Brussels would come down on Madrid like a ton of bricks.
The fact is of course that the Balearic government is fully aware of this. European restraints are, however, generally ignored, as they do not suit the government's narrative of Madrid as enemy.
The flat rate had been mooted before the current administration took office, but it was made a policy of this government. It is one of its stellar projects to mark it out in the eyes of the electorate in much the same way as magicking up 120 million euros for Son Dureta will be. (On this, I note that the Partido Popular are asking the same question I have - where's the money going to come from?)
The government has made its demands, and goes further in that it wants the regular residents' discount (which applies to the vast majority of travellers) to be increased. All of this may come to form part of the negotiations over a new economic regime and financing system, but for now they are not negotiable items; they are demands.
Contrast this with another aspect of general transport policy, one over which Madrid doesn't have its say: the bus services to the resorts. The government, which says that it has never had any intention of pressurising anyone (i.e. the taxi drivers and so unlike its pressure on Madrid), has ended up by demonstrating its willingness to back down. The bus services will still go ahead but they are no longer what they were. Yes, they will serve some resorts, but rather than being resort bus services, they are, well, bus services. Four new ones that will meander through places like Algaida and Montuiri.
What really has all the fuss achieved? Very little. The services have been watered down. The government has been shown to be weak. And weakness sums up transport policy. Against the might of Madrid and Brussels, the government squeaks and is left with its constant sniping, designed for electorate consumption.
Showing posts with label Bus services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bus services. Show all posts
Friday, March 10, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
The Bus Services PR Game
When are direct bus services from the airport to tourist resorts not direct bus services from the airport to tourist resorts? Answer: when the regional government which dreamt up the scheme for direct bus services determines otherwise.
There seems to be precious little sympathy for the taxi drivers, but neither they nor the government is coming out of this affair with a great deal of credit, and where the government is concerned, it has moved the goalposts from what was originally said. This was that there would be direct bus services to the resorts, an intention which no longer holds good. When the director-general for transport, Jaume Mateu, let it be known that these services will be stopping in "pueblos" with 15,000 or more inhabitants, it was a further red rag to the taxi driver bull. He didn't actually specify which these pueblos will be, but they certainly include Inca and Manacor, because that much is known. Which other ones? Llucmajor along the route to Cala d'Or?
President Armengol, arguing earlier this week that citizens in certain towns have the right to a good system of public transport, referred to Sa Pobla and Son Servera, neither of which have populations of 15,000. So how does this marry with what Mateu has said? It doesn't, and the impression being given is that the government is making things up on the hoof. Initially, there was never any mention of there being stops anywhere other than in the resorts. Had this been decided but not revealed? Or have these additional stops been added as a way of getting the public more on the government's side (the public in the relevant pueblos, that is)?
These bus services are therefore becoming new bus routes, simple as that. In which case, why - and the taxi drivers have asked the question - aren't they going to operate all year? And one wonders how feasible these services are in terms of serving both residents and tourists. Assuming, for example, the service which starts at Cala Bona fills up, then what happens to the residents of Manacor who might be waiting to be whisked off to the airport?
Improvisation is what one perceives, and improvisation in the name of winning the PR game against the taxi drivers, who do themselves few favours by trotting out some of the arguments they do with precisely the same PR aim. They are appealing to a public that may hold anti-hotelier sentiments (and this public is sizable) by suggesting that the hoteliers are implicated with the introduction of the services. It was said that the bus services are a government way of placating hoteliers as it will compensate hotels for the tourist tax. What!? By way of explanation, this is because hotels will save some money because of the bus services. While hotels do incur some cost with transfers, the notion that this has all been set up to appease them is frankly ridiculous.
One of the most sensible observations amidst an increasingly nonsensical situation has come from Bartolomé Deyà of the university's tourism faculty. There are tourist customers for everyone - buses, taxis, transfers - and the bus and taxi markets are different. Amen.
There seems to be precious little sympathy for the taxi drivers, but neither they nor the government is coming out of this affair with a great deal of credit, and where the government is concerned, it has moved the goalposts from what was originally said. This was that there would be direct bus services to the resorts, an intention which no longer holds good. When the director-general for transport, Jaume Mateu, let it be known that these services will be stopping in "pueblos" with 15,000 or more inhabitants, it was a further red rag to the taxi driver bull. He didn't actually specify which these pueblos will be, but they certainly include Inca and Manacor, because that much is known. Which other ones? Llucmajor along the route to Cala d'Or?
President Armengol, arguing earlier this week that citizens in certain towns have the right to a good system of public transport, referred to Sa Pobla and Son Servera, neither of which have populations of 15,000. So how does this marry with what Mateu has said? It doesn't, and the impression being given is that the government is making things up on the hoof. Initially, there was never any mention of there being stops anywhere other than in the resorts. Had this been decided but not revealed? Or have these additional stops been added as a way of getting the public more on the government's side (the public in the relevant pueblos, that is)?
These bus services are therefore becoming new bus routes, simple as that. In which case, why - and the taxi drivers have asked the question - aren't they going to operate all year? And one wonders how feasible these services are in terms of serving both residents and tourists. Assuming, for example, the service which starts at Cala Bona fills up, then what happens to the residents of Manacor who might be waiting to be whisked off to the airport?
Improvisation is what one perceives, and improvisation in the name of winning the PR game against the taxi drivers, who do themselves few favours by trotting out some of the arguments they do with precisely the same PR aim. They are appealing to a public that may hold anti-hotelier sentiments (and this public is sizable) by suggesting that the hoteliers are implicated with the introduction of the services. It was said that the bus services are a government way of placating hoteliers as it will compensate hotels for the tourist tax. What!? By way of explanation, this is because hotels will save some money because of the bus services. While hotels do incur some cost with transfers, the notion that this has all been set up to appease them is frankly ridiculous.
One of the most sensible observations amidst an increasingly nonsensical situation has come from Bartolomé Deyà of the university's tourism faculty. There are tourist customers for everyone - buses, taxis, transfers - and the bus and taxi markets are different. Amen.
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