The countdown has been going on for some time, but today is officially the penultimate day for what is known as the Ábalos Decree. The regulation, which put a four-year limit on the management of VTC licenses in Spain – the same ones that Uber, Cabify and now Bolt need to continue operating – had until September 30 of this year. During this time, the communities had to create their own regulation that would adapt the situation to the new mobility paradigm.
It was also a way of “passing the buck” for a transport ministry that was faced with some of the biggest mobilizations in the taxi industry. The ball, which until then resided in the central government, then passed to the autonomous communities. What was written in the Ábalos Decree was something that the taxi sector had been asking for for a long time. A point that, after four years, has not gone quite well for the parties. Although Catalonia was positive about the proposals that could be developed in its territory, Madrid did not have them all with it. The positioning of the historic Government of the Popular Party in the capital, before on the side of the taxi and now positioned in favor of new forms of mobility, did not predict a good result.
The reality is that after four years of moratorium, practically none of the communities has gotten down to work. In fact, with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, many of the regions – and also the mobility platforms – requested a postponement of two additional years. Madrid, Barcelona and Andalusia, practically on the hood, have launched their regulations more or less in favor of the parties.
In fact, Madrid and Barcelona are at the antipodes of regulation. The capital has maintained a policy of continuation of the Ábalos Decree allowing the maintenance of the activity; at the same time that the new regulation of the Madrid City Council has extended the permits for the taxi with the opening of the time slots of the sector.
Barcelona, for its part, was very clear: it is not a region for VTCs. With a rosary of regulations, which prevented the operation of practically none of the active companies. In response, Cabify announced aid to license owners in order to meet the almost impossible requirements. From Uber there is still no news; in fact, she was the last to return to Barcelona after her retirement in 2019. At Bolt, they added homologated bumpers to their vehicles to reach the minimum size required. This was by far the most difficult request to achieve for several reasons. The first of them applied to the length of the vehicles; At 4.90 meters long, the list of viable models was reduced to 3. All high-end at a time when the availability of vehicles due to the semiconductor crisis is experiencing its worst hours.
At the end of the list of regulations that had to be updated before the end of the Ábalos Decree, the case of Andalusia. The most recent of all and with a response that dances between the position of Madrid and Barcelona.
In total, 15,000 VTC permits that already have regulations of the 17,400 that are active. From the list of the regions with the most licenses would be Valencia, from which a regulation closer to the taxi is expected. Of the rest, there is still no news.
Cabify announces a long period of uncertainty after the end of the Ábalos Decree
That the positioning of Cabify –and by extension, the rest of the mobility platforms– before the Ábalos Decree was negative is a reality. Despite everything, they explain, “they have scrupulously maintained their compliance since their announcement.”
But, they add, it is the Ministry itself and the Authorities that would be reaching a breach of the text itself. Specifically with the so-called compensation period of the Decree itself by which the possibility of establish a “complementary indemnity” for the number of years that allow the investments made to be recovered, “counted from the end of the 4-year term”.
The Spanish unicorn anticipates that, given the lack of regulation in a large number of regions, there will be an avalanche of claims by license holders who will be prohibited from operating. All with the aim of recovering the investment in the face of an invalid title at this time.