If you want to get about in Palma and the bicycle is not your choice of transport, you may well be directed to the services of the Empresa Municipal de Transports (EMT). In the old days, after 1881, there were streetcars in Palma de Mallorca being pulled by mules and horses (see photo bottom). The service was modernized in 1941 when electric trams replaced the horse-drawn tram service, operating until 1958. After that, the Palma trams were replaced by buses. In 1985, EMT was established jointly by the Ajuntament de Palma and the Consell de Mallorca, a municipal transport company currently operating 30 metropolitan routes by day plus a sufficiently extensive night service.

Recently, services were somewhat disrupted for a bit of strike action lasting a few hours per day over four or five days, just before the May elections were held in Palma and the island. I suppose that with the new leadership in charge in both, the Palma council and the Consell de Mallorca, demands of the EMT bus drivers will have to be heard or else, more strike action can be expected, with more passengers doing some forced waiting.

The photo (top) was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 21st, 2011. The time was 15:10:46. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of campus.usal.es.

Muchas gracias.