For some locals, travelling on the L8 line, which connects Sant Antoni, Sant Josep and Ibiza, has become a real ordeal. Operated by the company Alsa, this route suffers from constant delays, old buses, and stops in a state of neglect, turning a regular journey into a daily ordeal.
According to the official timetable, on weekdays the line should have a service every half an hour until 15:30, and then an hourly service in the afternoon. However, the reality is quite different. «Normally, I take the 8 am bus, which is supposed to pass at 8.20 am at Sant Josep, but the other day it arrived at 9.10 am. It was almost an hour late», says Alejandro, who relies on this service to get to work. «Every day, I go with my heart in my mouth, afraid of being late,» he adds.
The problem is exacerbated in summer due to the high temperatures. «There is no one here who can stand it. The broken canopy doesn't provide any shade. People look for shade under the trees or sit on the pavement because it gets full sun», explains a regular user waiting in front of the Cala de Bou health centre. At other stops, there isn't even a bus shelter; sometimes, there isn't even a pole to indicate that a bus is stopping there. «If you don't see people waiting, you wouldn't even know it was a bus stop», says another user. «Other times, you can tell because there is a stop in front of it, so you assume that the buses have to pass in the opposite direction as well», she adds.
The drivers themselves confirm the situation. «What passengers say is real. The buses they bring here have already been withdrawn in other places; some are from Zaragoza and Fuenlabrada. They are very old and not in good condition. In addition, we are very short of staff, so we can't stick to the timetable with so many people getting on and off», explains one of the company's drivers.
Inside the vehicles, the picture is no better either. "The seats are dirty and worn out. Even if they put the air conditioning on, it doesn't cool at all and you end up sweating the whole journey," laments Marta, a regular user of the line. «The other day the doors didn't close properly and the driver, together with a passenger, had to push them shut», she adds.
Some drivers from the company say that they do their best to stick to the timetable. «Between being full and people taking a long time to pay, we lose minutes at each stop. Besides, the buses can't take much more», admits one driver.
Several passengers have made formal complaints to the company and the Consell, but the problem has not been resolved. «They always say they will fix it, but time goes by and nothing changes», says another passenger. It is also known that there is a plan to address these issues, which includes renovating the buses and adapting the stops. However, there is no concrete date or details of its implementation yet.
«We pay a ticket that is not exactly cheap to be given this service», concludes one user.