Half of Formentera's seasonal taxi fleet are hybrid cars

foto parada taxis formenteraThe Formentera Council's bureau of mobility has reported that four of the eight seasonal taxis on the island this summer are hybrid cars. The Council's action plan on seasonal cabs for 2016 and 2017, created with the local chauffeurs' association, proposed requiring 25 per cent of seasonal taxis to be hybrids, however, as Rafael González, CiF transport councillor, commented, “we revised our outlook. It's improved and now 50 per cent of our fleet is hybrid.”

Seasonal taxi-chauffeuring permits are awarded on a point-based system. Higher scores are given to hybrids, new cars, vehicles equipped for credit-card payment and vehicles which generate returns to the Council that exceed a monthly minimum of 1,000 euros. Under the previous plan five individuals received permits; the current plan calls for increasing that number to eight. In the past, permit-holders could drive a taxi for a three-month period; that has now grown to four months, and there is a broader spread of working times.