They have more than 200 signatures collected and hope to achieve more. They are part of the 732 taxi drivers who have a license in Santa Cruz and who flatly reject changing the service so that there are fewer taxis on the street. And that is the proposal that the majority association in the sector, Elite Taxi, according to the City Hall of Santa Cruzhas led to the Taxi Table held yesterday and that is none other than to exceed the current 80% (585), which means rest one day a week per block of taxis, at 60% (440), which means working every other day, except on cruise days, when it will return to 80%.
“We do not understand why they defend this proposal when it goes against the sector itself and our main customers, who are the residents, who will have fewer taxis available in the city.” This was explained yesterday by one of the taxi drivers who defend maintaining 80%, Marcela Dagostino, who yesterday, together with several colleagues, demonstrated at the gates of the City Hall in protest against this proposal. Precisely, given the obvious division in the sector, the Consistory reported that it will put the majority association’s proposal to a vote. “Among the points addressed was that of working at 60% or 80% of units, depending on whether or not there are cruise ships, raised by the majority association present at the Table,” explained the Councilor for Transportation, Dámaso Arteaga.
The proposal to reduce the number of taxis in circulation in Santa Cruz from 585 to 440 divides the sector. SERGIO MENDEZ
The proposal to reduce the number of taxis in circulation in Santa Cruz from 585 to 440 divides the sector. SERGIO MENDEZ
In this sense, he commented that, “although the study carried out to find out the optimal licenses in the city establishes that the ratio of taxis in the city is 80%, it is true that the request of the majority group was that this proposal be taken into account, so we are going to carry out a consultation among all the professionals in the sector, which we hope to have concluded in about 15 days, approximately”.
“Even so,” the councilor added, “there are taxi drivers who see in this proposal to reduce the number of vehicles to 60% a violation of their rights in relation to the freedom to work without restrictions” and ended by warning that, “of all forms, what we are going to do is request a legal report in this sense, precisely with the purpose of protecting any decision that the City Council takes from now on”.
And it is that the group that opposes this reduction made it clear yesterday that a consultation on the right to work “is unconstitutional and we are not going to accept it,” said Dagostino, who said he was speaking on his own behalf, but was sure that the Other colleagues thought the same. “We will challenge it if it goes ahead,” she added. The taxi driver defended that, if the presence of taxis in the city is reduced to 60%, “we are talking about the fact that I pay my taxes and expenses for an entire year, but I have really worked eight months, that is what they propose to us, and there are no longer any restrictions that support that decision.”
This taxi professional insisted on asking the public for help. “They, along with us, will be the main victims of this measure if it is adopted, because there will be fewer taxis available. We cannot focus only on cruise days, because the rest of the days we also have clients”. She added that they will not hesitate to go to court to defend their rights.
37,000 euros for taxi licenses, the starting point of the new rescue
Arteaga reported at the Taxi Board on the study of the price of the license at the time of the new rescue that is proposed to reduce the licenses to the 582 established by the last study.
According to this report, the amount for each license that will be rescued in the planned plan rises to 37,000 euros, a price that serves as the basis for the formalization of the agreement with the Cabildo de Tenerife to “proceed, as it is designed in the route, to the rescue of licenses, documentation that is already in the possession of the insular institution, as it had asked us to be able to sign the agreement with this City Council, ”explained the mayor.
