HALF of Malaga province taxis to join nationwide strike on Wednesday

HALF of Malaga’s taxis will join a nationwide strike on Wednesday following a ruling on Uber and Cabify drivers.

The president of the Costa del Sol Taxis Confederation, José Royón, said the taxi service in the province will be provided at 50%, but assured customers there will be ‘enough vehicles’ to meet the demand ‘without any type of anomaly’.

Royón said in a statement that the service at Malaga airport will be functioning at 100%.

Malaga taxi drivers have chosen to support the protests but at the same time maintain their services because ‘it doesn’t make sense to bother the user who gives us work all year round,’ Royón told Efe.

But he added that taxi drivers have ‘a competitor on the street’, referring to platforms such as Uber or Cabify, so if public taxi service is not available citizens can resort to them.

The fleet of Malaga and the Costa del Sol is made up of 1,432 taxis – some 180 of which correspond to the airport.

The strike comes after the Supreme Court granted 80 new Uber and Cabify licenses in Madrid last week.

Uber and Cabify applauded the decision, saying it gives customers more options.

But taxi union Fedetaxi believes the ruling opens the door to grant more than 10,000 VTC licenses in the coming months and that multinationals ‘flood the market, jeopardizing the stability of their service’.