A few days before Christmas, when the city center is going to become a hive of shoppers, passers-by, tourists and merchants, controversy arises between taxi professionals and the City Council over mobility. The remodeling of Colón Street, one of the promises of Mayor Catalá and a workhorse of the PP during her opposition to Joan Ribó’s government, was defined a few days ago by the City Council. And the criticism from the opposition is now joined by that of the taxi drivers, who had waited to close various meetings with the Councilor for Mobility, Jesús Carbonell, before saying anything.
However, yesterday the City Council announced new actions to “favor the taxi sector in the city.” An announcement that involves, for example, the creation of a new stop on Colón Street, specifically on the corner with Pascual i Genís Street, or the transfer of the existing stop in L’Ajuntament Square directly opposite, among others.
These are gestures with which the City Council has wanted to please the taxi, Fernando del Molino, president of the Valencia Taxi Union Federation, explains to this newspaper after Colón’s announcement. But given the result, the association that it presides has not waited any longer and yesterday released a statement criticizing the City Council’s proposal, but not before recognizing Councilor Carbonell’s efforts to please the sector.
On the one hand, regarding the remodeling of Colón – which will have two lanes for private use and will eliminate an EMT-taxi lane – the Federation said yesterday that it “frontally” opposes this proposal. He argues that it is “a step back for the citizens of Valencia in the city’s progress towards sustainable, less polluting and more efficient mobility.” He added that “it does not seem normal to us that a decision by a 21st century municipal government attracts private vehicles to the city center, collapsing traffic at the entrances to the center with vehicles that pollute our air, using Colón Street as a highway to cross the city,” they explained.
It considers that the council should have opted to streamline and improve the public transport network so that “citizens enter and leave the center more easily and quickly” and predict that in the near future things will become more complicated. “We are going to see it this Christmas, you don’t need to be a fortune teller,” they point out.
Where the Federation is less critical is with the care provided. Carbonell has met with both the Taxi Union Federation of Valencia and the Province and the Taxi Union Association. The former pointed out yesterday “the efforts of Councilor Carbonell, talking and listening to the sector, trying to compensate the taxi with improvements in user service.”
The latter have not taken positions on Colón, an issue that surprises Molino, since it explains eliminating a bus-taxi lane in Colón greatly limits the taxi, which had found in the current approach a “very fast way to cross the city.” . In another statement issued on Monday, the Taxi Guild Association only reviews the new taxi stops and modifications that will be undertaken.
Faced with this scenario, and with the Christmas holidays just around the corner, the Valencia Taxi Union Federation has not made any decision on whether or not to undertake protest actions. They do acknowledge having contact with the EMT works council to join forces, although at the moment there are no specifics.
