Orihuela reopens the competition for its eight taxi licenses for 20 days

The Orihuela City Council has reopened the competition for its eight new taxi licenses—four of which are linked to adapted vehicles—with a new deadline of 20 calendar days, after recognizing that the merit criteria of the Fifth Base were legally indeterminate. This is done by agreement of the Local Government Board of August 25, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante no. 204, of October 27, 2026, with official reference 6968/2026 and file 20878/2024.

The call originated from an agreement of the Local Government Board of May 20, 2025, which created eight autotaxi licenses and approved its bases, published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante no. 130, of July 11, 2025 (announcement 3793/2025). Four of the licenses are reserved for vehicles adapted for people with reduced mobility in accordance with STANDARD UNE 26494:2014, and the procedure is governed by Law 13/2017, of November 8, on the Taxi of the Valencian Community.

From the creation of the licenses to the third version of the bases

The appeals for reversal against the initial weighting of merits were partially upheld by agreement of September 16, 2025, which set professional experience at 1 point per full month (maximum 360) and community languages up to 150 points, with a scale from A1 (30 points) to C2 (150). This text was published in full in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante no. 218, of November 14, 2025 (announcement 7103/2025).

After the definitive list of admitted and excluded applicants was approved by Decree no. 2026-1595, of March 20, 2026, the valuation Commission detected in its Second Minutes—session of July 14, 2026—indeterminacies that prevented objective scoring. The body warned that establishing interpretive criteria after knowing the applications would violate equality and legal certainty.

The Supplementary and Correction Legal Report of August 21, 2026, signed by Mr. Santiago Romero Estremera with the conformity of Mr. Adrián Ballester Espinosa, concluded that the deficiencies were not minor doubts but issues capable of altering the score and the order of priority. The agreement is based on the doctrine of the Supreme Court Ruling of May 22, 2012 (appeal 2574/2011), which prohibits the valuation body from completing the scale.

What is being corrected: part-time work, languages, and unemployment

The modification does not alter the current weighting, but rather specifies its application:

• Professional experience (5.2): part-time work is calculated proportionally and overlapping periods cannot be summed beyond a full-time workday.
• Languages (5.3): certificates from the Official Language Schools and degrees recognized according to Decree 61/2013 of the Generalitat Valenciana are accepted; certificates of attendance are not valid.
• Unemployment (5.5): the 100 points require being registered as a job seeker and being a subsidy beneficiary on the reference date.
• Documentation (new rule 4.10): partial photographs, screenshots, or contracts provided only on their first page are not sufficient.
• Other scores intact: 50, 100, and 150 points for permit seniority (5.4) and up to 300 points for courses on care for people with disabilities (5.6).

New deadline and common assessment

The deadline is 20 calendar days from the day following publication, therefore extending until November 16, 2026. Those who have already applied retain the validity of their application and may complete, modify, or withdraw it; new applicants may also apply.

The common reference date is the last day of that period: subsequent merits will not be admitted. Afterward, a new provisional and final list of admitted and excluded applicants will be approved, and only then will the Commission —chaired by the Secretary of the Corporation, with Ms. Isabel Heredia Pomares as secretary and Mr. Roberto Lorente Ortuño, Mr. Álvaro García Ortega, and Mr. Adrián Ballester Espinosa as members— resume the assessment. The edict is signed by the delegated councilor for Transport, Victor Manuel Sigüenza Riquelme.

Successful applicants must start the service within 60 days if the vehicle is not adapted and within 180 if it is. An optional appeal for reversal may be filed against the agreement within one month, or a contentious-administrative appeal within two months before the Contentious-Administrative Court of Elche.

Impact on the sector

The decision delays a competition started in 2025 and forces the admission phase to be repeated, but it clears the main legal threat to the procedure: the annulment of a scoring system decided after knowing the applicants. For the Orihuela taxi sector, it means postponing the incorporation of eight new cars, four of them accessible, in a municipality that is expanding its fleet based on emission and accessibility criteria. Interested parties have three weeks to redo their documentation under homogeneous rules.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante, no. 204 of October 27, 2026, section III. Local Administration, pp. 1-27 (official reference: 6968/2026).