Last Friday saw the first of the island's taxis being fitted with taximeters. A handful of cabs in the Ciutadella district had their meters officially approved by Applus after checks to ensure that the settings were correct, allowing them to use the new instruments in their daily work.
The remainder of the district's taxis were expected to follow suit yesterday and then those from other districts will gradually follow until all the island's 100 taxis belonging to Radio Taxi and Taxis Maó have meters installed.
Only two places in Menorca are authorised to install the instruments and, at present, only taxis which were dealt with by the Ciutadella garage, Bosch Automoció S.L., have passed the I.T.V. (vehicle inspection). The garage in Maó experienced some problems in the installation of the meters but it is hoped that these will be resolved this week so that the tariffs can be introduced and the taxis can pass the I.T.V.
As of now, each taxi will come under one of the three areas into which the island has been divided, West, Central and East. Any taxi may pick up fares from anywhere on the island but will not be permitted to wait in ranks outside their district.
The 58 taxis beonging to Radio Taxi are fitted with GPS systems so that the Maó centre knows exactly where every taxi is at any given time, enabling the nearest taxi to be sent in response to a call.
The Island Council is pushing for the creation of a single control centre for the whole of the island, thus uniting Taxis Maó and Radio Taxi. The Councillor for Transport, Damià Borràs, explained that there was universal agreement amongst the island's Mayors that the sector should be unified to improve the efficiency of the service which at present is controlled from two centres. However, he states that Taxis Maó appear uninterested in the amalgamation as they feel "they are okay as they are". Borràs says that if it is not possible to create a single central control, the only answer will be to grant more licences for taxis in the summer to cover the demand that is currently not being met due to the lack of efficiency resulting from having two control centres.