Malaga taxi drivers urge new legislation

Malaga taxi drivers have urged the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to set a specific date during the first half of September in order to establish the ability to pre-arrange the pick up of passengers in those municipalities throughout the Malaga province whose taxi drivers service the airport, cruise port and María Zambrano train station. If these demands are not met, taxi workers are willing to stage protests, including strikes.

José Antonio Mate, president of the Unified Association of Málaga Taxi Drivers pointed out that they sent out petitions on both the 4th of July and the 18th of August to the Junta de Andalucía, asking for information, without having received an answer yet. Although he trusts that eventually the demands will be implemented – as a previous step to the creation of an area of joint provision around the airport area- “as it was agreed upon”, he warned that “as of now, nothing has materialized”.

Taxi owners have pointed to the delay that Junta de Andalucia is having in fulfilling the commitments they made on February 14th with the taxi industry in Malaga. To allow any new agreement of “modulated reciprocity” at the airport, the seaport and the train station, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing will have to introduce a transitional measure in the controversial decree of 11/85. The program would allow Malaga taxi drivers to pick up pre-arranged services in those towns that currently have taxi drivers picking up passengers in the airport, the seaport or María Zambrano train station. Malaga taxi drivers rejected this last location’s inclusion on February 17th, but eventually, they changed their mind and agreed.