Caroline has to stop her taxi service Pamplona - SJPdP

[Jochen_Schmidtke]

Hello.
Here is Carolines answer on my question why she has to stop her taxi service from Pamplona to SJPdP:

Hello,
yes, there are some problems now with the transport of persons in spain.
All the french company who use cars with less than 9 seats cannot do transport of persons from Spain to france. It is the case of all the french taxi and the company as mine.
Only the portugues company can do it....
I was controlled 3 weeks ago and paied a fine of 1500€ for this (i pickep up a group in Pamplona) whereas i do this transport since 9 years.
i understood nothing this day... Thse are the taxi of Pamplona who complained against me because i go everyday in pamplona.
So, it is terrible and it is also the same for the french taxi.
and the worst for pilgrims is that the taxi of pamplona now, try to make stop the company Conda, because they don't want that this company of bus runs.

So it will be perfect for the pilgrims, no bus, no express bourricot who makes groups to share the cost, just taxi at 120€!!!!!
It is a shame, but the crisis in spain is too strong and the people become bad!

So, for this year, i cannot do transport from pamplona, but next winter, i will have a new licence (to drive bus of more than 9 seats) and it will be ok to come back in spain with a car of more than 9 seats).

I didn't find time to give the information to the different forum, because it is very complicate now for me to organize my transport.
I will do what i can , but for each person that send me a request of transport from pamplona, i expalin that i cannot but i expalin which bus it is possible to take.

So, i am sorry for what happen, but it is life, no?
See youn and thanks you for asking me what happened to have a good information for my transport.

I try to find a solution for this year for pilgrims and for my job and the solution i can have is to propose to the pilgrims who want to go to st Jean Pied de Port this:
- if they can arrive before 14h00 in pamplona, it is good for them because trhey can take the bus Conda
- if they arrive later or very early, they can also choose not to arrive in Pamplona from Madrid or Barcelone, but to arrive to Irun(Spain)/Hendaya(France). By train, they can arrive directly in France to Hendaya, by bus you arrive in Irun and a little "Topo" like a metro make you arrive in Hendaya. From Hendaya to St Jean pied de Port, i can do transport. Price between 16 and 86€, it depends on how many person i have in the group. It takes 1h20. It is about the same to do Pamplona - St Jean PP than Hendaya - St Jean PP

I feel with Caroline and I hope she will be able to take up her service soon.
With a sad "Buen Camino"
Jochen

 

[tyrrek]

That's progress.

 

[ouroboros]

So, it is terrible and it is also the same for the french taxi.
and the worst for pilgrims is that the taxi of pamplona now, try to make stop the company Conda, because they don't want that this company of bus runs.

So it will be perfect for the pilgrims, no bus, no express bourricot who makes groups to share the cost, just taxi at 120€!!!!!
It is a shame, but the crisis in spain is too strong and the people become bad!

Pamplona's tourism will, ironically, take a hit as pilgrims now may try to avoid stopping in Pamplona
as a layover to transition to St. Jean-Pied de Port by cheaper transport.
I have booked a pension in Pamplona to make this trip and now am ready to cancel my stop in Pamplona and find another way from Madrid. Perhaps fly from Madrid to Biarritz?
Any suggestions?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Except for cost, Biarritz is a much more convenient place for getting to St. Jean Pied de Port -- train or Express Bourricot are available.

 

[vagabondette]

For anyone canceling/changing plans, make sure you let the hotel you booked with know why. If they start seeing a trend they might raise a fuss about it with the tourist board.

 

[ouroboros]

Is there good reason to think the Conda bus service from Pamplona to SJPdP will be jeopardized,
aside from the allusion in Carolin's letter?

Getting to Biarritz is cost prohibitive from Madrid! :cry:

I guess I'll try to contact Conda directly.

 

[koilife]

Any word on when or whether Express Bouricott will be able to start back up with service from Pamplona to SJPdP?

I will shortly decide whether to fly into Paris and out of Madrid (open jaw trip), or into and out of Madrid. Although expressbouricott.com shows service Pamplona, I was told just last night that the service had not restarted. Not sure if that is old info or still the case.

PAX,
Matt

 

[Deleted member 3000]

She is still closed down. Since she is fighting the regulatory bureaucracy, she could be back up tomorrow or never.

 

[koilife]

Any way to voice support for her with a grassroots campaign?

For instance . . . writing the equivalent of the Madrid and Pamplona chambers of commerce and pointing out that, because of the loss of convenient access, I am flying into Paris instead of Madrid, spending money there on my rest day while I get over jet lag, riding SNCF instead of RENFE, etc. Also, because of the extra money spent now in getting to SJPdP, there is less money that I have to spend along the Camino, which means less money all along route going to local economies.

 

[koilife]

My final solution was to go to use the alburgue/pension Corazon Puro in Biskaret. They picked my son and me up at the Pamplona train station, drove us to their pension where we stayed the night, and then they dropped us off at SJPdp the next morning. The total cost for transfer was 37 euro, which is less than if we had used the bus (which would also have cost us an extra day), AND we got exceptionally wonderful and friendly hospitality. We stopped back by for lunch several days later just to say hi and to visit as we continued on our way.

I can't sing the praises of Corazon Puro enough.