The Tuk Tuks have become another element of (overloaded) landscape of the center of Madrid. These motorized tricycles of Asian origin have extended almost without the occasional pedestrian perceiving it, until they cause a jam or take a curve at an unusual speed. Their novelty has allowed them to settle and proliferate without a specific regulation in the capital. But the accumulation of certain problems has caused the looks of the administration, backed by the opposition, address these vehicles.
Víctor Rey, president of the Sun and Letters Association (which groups residents of the Centro District), tells this newspaper the restlessness that these Tuk Tuks generate in the neighborhood: “The inconvenience in certain streets of the neighborhood of Las Letras and in that of the Palace are wide and known. We have been supporting a model that is not pleasant and that is out of control. It causes a real chaos in the circulation, especially in narrow streets that already have a large level of traffic. ”
It highlights the case of Huertas, “a pedestrian street that is used as a collection or route that constantly crosses.” He says they do it “dozens per day, sometimes in groups of three or four vehicles in row.” For this neighbor, the Tuk Tuks “sow chaos and slow down the mobility of pedestrians and vehicles in an area in itself congested.” And it points to a direct manager, the government of José Luis Martínez-Almeida: “The free hand that the City Council has had so far cannot be controlled.”
It describes “a legal vacuum in which everything fits and authentic barbarities occur.” One more example stands out, that of Atocha Street with Lion Street: “Many Tuk Tuks stop and collapse both traffic and accesses. It is an area that is not prepared for this type of activities. ” Santa Ana Street or the Prince is other of the most conflict, according to this story.
Visiting a city with a bug of these instead of on foot is an aberration. We would not occur to us in Berlin, Paris or London … Here is all that the leisure industry follows, regardless of the neighbors, everything is for this theme park in which Madrid has become “
Victor Rey
– President of the neighborhood association Sol and Barrio de las Letras
For Victor the trend also illustrates a type of tourism Fast food that does not contribute benefits to the neighborhood: “Visiting a city with a bug of these instead of foot is an aberration. We would not think of applying it in Berlin, Paris or London … Here it is worth everything that follows the leisure industry, regardless of the neighbors, everything is for this theme park in which Madrid has become. ”
That is why, from Sol and Lyrics, they demand the municipal requirement of “licenses that give security and contemplate which routes can use, limiting speed and access to forbidden streets, just like a car.” Victor believes that at the moment “he has turned a blind eye for the sake of the sacrosanct tourism industry.” And he adds: “We are also concerned about the technical characteristics of these vehicles given the speeds they reach. So far this is the law of the jungle. ”
The tuk tuks, waiting for licenses, rates and even definition
The discussion about specific legislation for Tuks jumped into the bosom of Cibeles in January, during the last commission of Finance, Economics and Innovation. The spokeswoman of Más Madrid, Esther Gómez, asked Engracia Hidalgo (delegate councilor of the branch) about a regulation in tax matters for these motor vehicles. Hidalgo referred to “a previous evaluation work that due to its complexity is still developing.”
For Gomez, this transport “generates many doubts about the legal margins they are using to provide their services”, although their intervention did not focus so much on the effects on mobility or its “irregular” use to transfer travelers. The mayor of the main opposition party denounced a “use of a public space for the realization of an economic activity that is leaving free by not being affected by municipal taxes.” He defined it as a “discriminatory attitude” against the rates that face press or ice cream, filming, taxis or any street business in general. A tax context that Gomez affirms, does exist in other cities such as Barcelona or Seville.
The councilor delegate of the Treasury said that “before talking about fees and contributions, the regulatory framework must be regulated in which this activity takes place.” He pointed to this various aspects that are being analyzed from the area of culture and tourism directed by Marta Rivera de la Cruz.
Thus, Hidalgo referred to the study of a possible “municipal license, a tariff regime, the proper classification of vehicles, limited liability insurance, accreditation for tourist guides, safety systems for young users …”. From the Municipal Portfolio of Culture and Tourism confirm the previous analysis in statements to this newspaper: “Working in an ordering of this service from different areas of the City Council”, without specifying more details to date.
In any case, Hidalgo considers it essential to previously modify autonomous and state legislation. “The Community of Madrid is being urged to modify article 35 of the Tourism Planning Law to include a definition of Tuk Tuks,” said the mayor. In the area of culture and tourism of the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso they indicate to this medium that “the modification of the law will be addressed in the short term and that requests will be studied.” They clarify that “the competencies in mobility and activity licenses are municipal.”
Lack of professionalization and comparative grievance with other cities
From the corporate direction of Eco Tuk Tuk, one of the main operators of the capital, they break down their position in statements to Somos Madrid: “In this sector, clients of the street are being captured, which is not legal. We only work under reserve in all the cities where we offer the service: Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Seville and Lisbon. When we arrived there were only six or seven vehicles throughout the city. We bet on professionalization. ” Currently they have 100 vehicles in portfolio, without specifying how many of them move through Madrid. “We are the only company in the sector with labor contracts for all its workforce,”
They presume that “Eco Tuk Tuk complies with the legislation for this type of tours” and, therefore, “what the City Council wants to do well, since not all companies in the sector are acting correctly.” Specifies that “making taxi or capturing in the street are intrusions in that sector and in that of transport vehicles with driver.” “For our part we celebrate meetings with the taxi associations and union in all the cities where we have worked,” they say from Eco Tuk Tuk, and note that “when the vehicles do not operate, they stay at the base.”
Asked about whether this problem is exclusive to Madrid, from Eco Tuk Tuk claim that in the rest of the cities where they operate “they do not let it capture in the street.” The other exception is Lisbon, where it is only allowed in stops delimited by the City Council itself (and even that option will be eliminated by the Consistory of the Portuguese capital).
Regarding the demands in tax or licenses, they defend that they have always fulfilled their obligations: “We pay all the rates of this activity, from the activity tax to insurance of all kinds. We also have firm internal rules of the company, for example an equal plan. ” For the company “that there is a regulation seems great to us, what we want is for competition to work well so that the sector is not frowned upon due to discomfort, traffic, noise and what causes the collection in the street.” In his opinion, “the regulation improves healthy competition, our companies, the City Council and the city.”
At the moment, and according to the Agracia Hidalgo herself in the January commission, these normative obligations are limited to the registration of the Tuks Tuks at the Provincial Traffic Headquarters to obtain the circulation permit, the payment of the state enrollment tax and the municipal tax on mechanical traction vehicles.
A booming surface tourism model
Those responsible for Eco Tuk Tuk expose the reasons for their commitment to this incipient tourist format: “We saw that it was a business that was going very well in Portugal, where he commented to implement in 2014, about four years before here. Later, Covid was an impulse because many people did not want to stick to other people and prefer to be in family, although this trend is going down. ”
Another key to the proliferation of this transport would be in “the rise of private tours in front of the tourist bus, formats in which the driver tells you the city with closer than an audioguía.” In the company they need, of course, the formation of their workers: “Our drivers are not tourist guides. Customers spend a few minutes on each site, but it is ideal for those who come to know the cities quickly. They can travel it in about three or four hours and then deepen with private tours in the areas that most interest them, or go to the restaurants that see along the way and call them attention. ”
For the Sun and Letters Association, this is another delicate point. The residents are raised by the foundation or veracity of the information that is given in these tours: “The professionalism of these people also concerns us, we do not believe that they have titles of tourist guides [un aspecto que confirman en Eco Tuk Tuk]. This has an impact on a deterioration of the quality of the tourism industry and its offer. ” Víctor Rey mentions the “explanations to shake” that the drivers of these vehicles give in the house of Cervantes, building on the street of León where the legendary author of The Quijote: “For Tuk Tuks it is a mandatory stop point, but they talk about things that do not know and mix without any foundation notions that do not correspond to the historical truth of this neighborhood or that of the Golden Age.”
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