Taxi drivers protest 'alliance between Free Now and Uber'

Taxi drivers in the Barcelona metro area gathered for a slow drive through the city center on Tuesday morning to demand the enforcement of regulations on ride-hailing services like Uber, as well as to denounce the "alliance" between these companies and Free Now, the Catalan capital’s most popular taxi app.

Elite Taxi, the largest taxi union in Barcelona, urged its members to meet at Plaça Espanya at 9 am. The slow drive is expected to start there at 10 am before moving onwards through Balmes and Pelai streets until Plaça Catalunya.

Tuesday’s slow drive will be the taxi sector’s umpteenth show of force as part of its ongoing conflict with competitors like Uber and Cabify, which they regard as existential threats.

Following a major taxi strike in January 2019, Catalan authorities passed new regulations allowing local Barcelona authorities to set a minimum 15-minute waiting period for Cabify and Uber users—a condition which they said undermined free competition.

While Cabify stayed in Barcelona after employing its own fleet of vehicles, Uber only returned two years later, in March 2021, opting instead to make its app available to taxi drivers.