Demo-listen. Spanish Taxi protests force through ride-hailing regulations

Six days of relentless protests by Spains nationwide Taxi drivers has finally come to an end with government officials agreeing to push through capping regulations on VTC vehicles (private hire vehicles) that will see only 1 licence being granted per every 30 traditional Taxi licenses.

Ride-hailing firms Uber and Cabify use VTC licenses to operate and will now be forced to slow down their driver recruitment.

Government officials finally listened to the concerns of traditional Taxi drivers who say the current VTC licensing system is making it impossible to earn a living.

In a press release published in TechCrunch , Spain's Development Minister said ;

"what we plan is to improve regulation, as the sector asks us, and with this gesture return to normality to maintain the dialogue with the necessary trust, which we must generate in order to arbitrate this initiative, in which we need the concurrence of the different administrations, essential to be able to elaborate our work well ".

The new regulations were originally proposed and set to be implemented but we're not seen through by the industry regulations, sparking the recent protests.

Demonstrations were initiated by Taxi drivers in Barcelona, and in an amazing show of solidarity, Taxi drivers from Madrid and other parts of Spain began to protest. Six days of persistence has seen traditional Taxi drivers finally get what they were originally promised ; a fair playing field. (Images: Twitter @eoghangilmartin)