Friday April 14. It is eleven at night and the Alicante-Elche-Miguel Hernández airport still has to receive 24 flights. The last bus to Alicante leaves at 23:20. The terminal, despite the fact that it has an underground space reserved for a future train or TRAM station that the Ministry's own traffic forecasts advised, does not have a rail connection. The 134 licensed taxis from Elche are in charge of distributing the more than 2,000 travelers throughout the province who will descend in less than two hours from 24 planes. Some will have to wait.
No more than a quarter of an hour, Prudencio Azor, president of the Elx Taxi Drivers Association, assures La Vanguardia. Although he acknowledges that on some occasions it has been longer: "recently there was a problem in the San Juan tunnel that held up several colleagues and the wait was extended." Just what a tourist who arrives at their destination after midnight wants and still has a good stretch of road ahead of them, about 60 kilometers if they go to Benidorm, a little less to Orihuela Costa or Torrevieja, although the journey will take longer.
Together with the city of Alicante, these are the most frequent destinations for travelers. In the latter case, the taximeter will mark around 20 euros on arrival; in the case of Benidorm the price will oscillate between 67 and 74 euros; a trip to Dénia can exceed 120.
Azor explains that the approval of the Elx municipal plenary session is pending for the granting of 24 more licenses, but he admits that there are a lack of drivers to meet a demand that does not stop growing. Last March, the airport exceeded one million passengers for the first time that month, and everything indicates that the high summer season will offer record figures.
In this context, cases of unlicensed drivers trying to take advantage of unsatisfied demand to do business flourish. This week, the Elche City Council has made it clear by noting the inspections carried out by the Local Police that "have made it possible to detect multiple cases of illegal transfer of passengers who were going to different municipalities of our province, and that suppose a competition illegal. The proposed penalty for lacking an enabling title amounts to 4,001 euros."
Officer Sánchez, head of the Road Crime Unit, explains to this newspaper that when a case is detected, the vehicle is immediately immobilized, and the owner cannot recover it if he does not pay the fine or half of it, 2,000.5 euros, waiving to file an appeal.
Inspections are not limited to unlicensed drivers, taxi drivers and VTCs can also be penalized if they break the law. Sánchez points out that abuses when agreeing on prices above the meter were more frequent in the past, but that there are still cases of non-compliance in the transfer of vehicles to different drivers or in the use of two cars with a single license.
The officer admits that the personnel resources available to the unit are scarce, insufficient for the degree of control that the problem would require. Intruders also take precautions, such as summoning customers to the parking lot instead of picking them up at the terminal exit.
In general, the "pirates" tend to be foreigners, often of the same nationality as the tourists, who approach them offering cheaper prices than the official ones. Although some profiteer, says Sánchez, "charged 400 euros from some Irish compatriots to take them to Torrevieja."
The Elche official agrees that the lack of public transport alternatives, which is limited to buses whose frequency and schedules do not adapt to those of flights, complicates the problem.
The times of charter flights that arrived with the transport to the contracted hotel are history. Today's traveler arrives on a cheap flight, light baggage because they are charged for checking in, and is looking for a fast and cheap connection to reach their destination. If it is not offered by regulated transportation, someone is more likely to try to take advantage of the opportunity.
