Taxi driver conflict returns to Barcelona

The conflict between Barcelona’s taxi drivers and mobile ridesharing services ignited again yesterday, with the Elite taxi drivers’ union calling an indefinite strike that, as in the last week of July, brought the capital’s Gran Via avenue to a standstill. The catalyst for the protest was proposed new regulations for ridesharing services that the government presented yesterday, which the taxi drivers claim puts their sector at risk. The taxi drivers say they intend to continue to block the centre of Barcelona with their vehicles until the executive is willing to isten to their demands.

The proposed regulation says that ridesharing services, known as VTC in Catalan, will have to wait for 15 minutes between taking one job and another, and that between jobs they have to return to base or park in a garage and that they cannot use geolocation to pick up random rides on the street, as regular cabs do.

It was the 15-minute interval that the taxi drivers objected to most, as they want the regulation to stipulate an interval of 12 hours. The differences between both parties was so wide that taxi driver representatives left the negotiation table and the protest promptly began. An hour later, the strike had been called after an assembly of taxi drivers held at Barcelona airport.

Yet, the ridesharing side did not like the regulation either, as they consider it to be too restrictive and claim it could lead to companies providing their services to close down. The Unauto union representing ridesharing drivers warned the government that if it goes ahead with the proposal it will have to foot a compensation bill for the many tens of thousands of euros the sector will lose as a result. The VTC sector also claimed the proposal flies in the face of both Spanish and European law.