The municipality still has just 42 taxi concessions, the same number as two decades ago, despite a population that suggests it should have around 88.
Orihuela is facing another summer without new taxi licences, despite long-running warnings over a shortage of vehicles across the municipality and particularly on the coast.
The process to award eight new licences, pending since 2015, began a year ago but remains unresolved. As a result, the municipality continues to operate with 42 taxi permits — the same number it had in 2005.
Orihuela now has around 88,000 registered residents, including approximately 30,000 on the coast. During the summer months, however, the coastal population rises sharply as tourists and temporary residents arrive, with the real number of people in the area estimated to reach around 100,000.
Current regulations provide for one taxi per 1,000 registered residents. On that basis, Orihuela should have about 88 licensed taxis.
The shortage has increased pressure on the service and has also fuelled the appearance of unlicensed drivers openly offering passenger transport to destinations such as Torrevieja, Elche, Alicante Airport and Murcia’s Corvera Airport.
The lack of licences has also led to concerns over speculation within the sector. At the most recent council plenary session, Ciudadanos said some licence holders were offering to sell their concessions for as much as €195,000.
The party presented a motion calling for an increase in both taxi licences and VTC private-hire authorisations. The proposal was approved with the support of the remaining municipal groups, while the Partido Popular abstained.
Licences still pending
The Official Gazette of the Province published the conditions for granting eight new taxi licences in Orihuela a year ago. The process had been blocked since 2022, when the City Council attempted to issue 15 licences, despite the regional government having authorised up to 30.
That decision was challenged in the administrative courts during the previous PSOE and Ciudadanos mandate. An agreement was later reached with the taxi sector in April 2023, reducing the number of new licences to eight.
In May of that year, a court ruling ordered the City Council to put the licences out to tender. A year later, the court issued a formal request giving the local authority five working days to prove it had complied with the order.
With no response forthcoming, a group representing salaried drivers submitted a petition in September to Administrative Court Number 1 in Elche, asking the court to issue a further formal request to the council.
In December, the same group asked the court to impose a daily fine on the councillor for transport, Víctor Sigüenza, until the court order is carried out.
Sources from the salaried drivers’ sector argue that the delay is not technical but political. “It is a matter of will,” they said, pointing to neighbouring Torrevieja, where six new licences were awarded a few months ago and a further eight are expected to be granted shortly.
Coastal pressure
Of Orihuela’s 42 taxi licences, 25 operate on the coast. It is there that the shortage is most visible, particularly during the summer season and often into October.
Long queues for taxis are common in busy areas, especially around La Zenia Boulevard, one of the largest shopping centres in the province.
The situation worsened in 2024 when an agreement with Torrevieja, in place since 2017, was not renewed. That arrangement had allowed taxi resources to be shared with Orihuela Costa at times of high demand.
Orihuela also faces structural mobility challenges. It is the largest municipality in Alicante province, covering 365.36 square kilometres, and has a complex territorial layout that includes the historic city, inland districts and a heavily populated coastal area.
For residents, visitors and workers, the continuing shortage of taxis means another summer of limited availability, long waits and growing frustration.
