It has had ZERO effect.

The Gibraltar Taxi Association assured the public in 2013 that the £300,000 of taxpayer’s money which was loaned to the GTA to install new meters in each taxi would ensure that taxis could be despatched efficiently around Gibraltar for the new City Service. This, the GTA said at the time, would resolve the issue about availability of the City Service. The Government said that the new system would be reviewed after 3 months to see if further changes were necessary.

The GTA got the money, they got the new meters, but the public did not get the service.

Eleven years on, the City Taxi Service is still failing to provide an acceptable service.
Travellers arriving at our airport are often left bewildered, facing long waits and the uncertainty of reaching their destinations. In the past when faced with similar criticism, the GTA has blamed traffic congestion for the lack of availability of taxis at the airport. And yet there are many free taxis at the frontier taxi rank touting tourists for Rock tours but they refuse to service long queues at the airport taxi rank a mere 100 metres away.

Gibraltar’s City taxi service is an embarrassment. It shames Gibraltar to visitors whether they are tourists or businesspeople and it leaves local residents who have no other means of transport stranded. It damages Gibraltar’s reputation as a tourist destination and as a serious and reliable business centre.

Despite repeated assurances over too many years by the GTA that the City Service would improve, to date, the City Taxi Service is not working. The public recognises it, even the GTA recognises it. By refusing to do anything meaningful about it, the Government is complicit in allowing this farce to continue.

Proper reliable alternatives must now be considered.