Torrevieja taxi crisis: Local party demands more licences and tech fixes after “worst summer in years”
- Sueña Torrevieja calls last summer “the worst in years” for taxi service: long queues, missed flights and elderly left without transport.
- Main causes: too few active taxi licences in high season and malfunctioning technology (AI call-answer systems and apps).
- Proposals include immediate activation of pending licences, 20 seasonal licences (non‑transferable) and urgent tech fixes (AI hand-off, language detection, local toponyms).
- City population swells with up to 450,000 seasonal visitors; only about 84 taxis were operating from ~92 licences.
- Sueña Torrevieja demands public monitoring of wait times and service coverage and evaluation of seasonal license effectiveness.
Torrevieja, Spain – A local political formation, Sueña Torrevieja, has publicly denounced what it calls “the worst summer in years” for taxi service in the city.municipalities, residents and visitors suffered long waits, arguments at taxi ranks, travellers missing flights and elderly patients unable to reach medical appointments. The party has formally asked the Town Hall to approve both structural and seasonal fixes – including more taxis and immediate technology corrections – before next summer.
What happened this summer?
During the busiest months, Torrevieja – a tourist city that grows from about 106,500 registered residents to between 300,000 and 450,000 people in summer – experienced severe taxi shortages. Key incidents reported by Sueña Torrevieja included:
- Passengers missing flights because no vehicle was available in time.
- Older people unable to attend medical appointments.
- Long, heated queues at main demand points; hospitality businesses lost customers who feared not finding a return taxi.
- Automated systems (AI call-answer and apps) frequently failed to recognize addresses or foreign accents and sometimes cut off calls.
Root causes: licences and immature technology
The party’s analysis points to two main causes:
- Insufficient active taxi licences for peak season.Torrevieja has about 92 licences in the registry (86 active, 2 temporarily inactive), but only ~84 taxis were actually operating – far below the suggested ratio of 1 taxi per 1,000 inhabitants.
- New management tools introduced on 1 January 2025 (TaxiClick, PideTaxi, a WhatsApp bot and AI call-answer systems) still need adjustments.The AI system reportedly misinterpreted foreign accents (from Norway, Sweden, UK, Poland, Russia) and local place names, sometimes ending the call if it could not understand the input.
Numbers that explain the pressure
| City | Population (approx.) | Taxi licences |
|---|---|---|
| Torrevieja | 106,500 | ~92 (≈84 operating) |
| Benidorm | ~70,000 | 220 |
| Marbella | ~165,000 | 300 |
| Palma de Mallorca (seasonal 2025) | City + tourists | 210 temporary licences (May-Oct 2025) |
What Sueña Torrevieja is proposing
The party has sent a formal set of proposals to the Torrevieja City Council. Their package focuses on three pillars:
1. Increase the number of licences
- Activate pending ordinary licences instantly and complete the structural reinforcement the council is already studying.
- introduce 20 non-transferable seasonal licences to operate from Easter to 31 October. These would follow the same municipal rates and be awarded via an objective scoring system (seniority,experience,training,local knowledge),giving priority to ECO‑label vehicles.
- Evaluate the effectiveness publicly at the end of each season.
2. Fix technology now
- Require that AI call-answer systems hand off to a human operator within 10-15 seconds if they don’t recognise an address.
- Add automatic language detection and a local dictionary of place names and urbanisation names to improve recognition of accents and toponyms.
- Correct duplicated service entries in apps and publish a public dashboard with wait times, percentage of services fulfilled and rejections by zone/time.
3. Improve transparency and monitoring
- Publish periodic indicators of service performance so the public can see where and when shortages occur.
- Use seasonal licences as a measured, reviewed experiment rather than a permanent change until authorities assess their impact.
Human impact and broader context
Pablo Samper, spokesman for Sueña Torrevieja, stressed the urgency: “This isn’t about pointing fingers, it’s about fixing it now.Torrevieja is a growing tourist city and cannot repeat a summer with queues,people missing flights and elderly without taxis to go to the doctor.”
The shortage is sharpened by other local mobility factors: a near absence of VTC services (Uber/Cabify) and the presence of private electric scooter companies operating irregularly in public spaces during high season.
What residents and visitors should know
- Expect push for more taxis and tighter controls at city council level before next high season.
- Temporary seasonal licences could expand summer capacity but will be reviewed each season.
- If you rely on taxis (airport trips, medical appointments), consider booking earlier or checking local municipal updates about service improvements.
Next steps
Sueña Torrevieja has formally submitted its proposals to the Town Hall for inclusion in the ongoing administrative procedure launched in August, which seeks the creation of new taxi licences. The party asks the council to incorporate the suggested licence measures and immediate tech fixes so that deficiencies are not repeated next year.
Sources and credits
- Sueña Torrevieja public statement and reporting – Información – Suena Torrevieja reclama la creación de licencias (22 Sep 2025)