Cabify confirmed at the end of March that it had received 8,500 new VTC licenses from the Community of Madrid, approved following a court ruling and set to take effect immediately. This could be the beginning of a flood of driver-driven rental vehicles that the mobility technology platform expects in the coming months. “Currently, we are talking about 8,500 licenses that have been recognized by the Community of Madrid following several court rulings. However, these 8,500 licenses are not the only ones that may arrive. Many more are expected, as numerous court proceedings are ongoing in which Cabify has requested additional licenses.” According to Cabify, a total of around 45,000 licenses could be issued across Spain as a result of its lawsuits.
The platform warns that, in addition to the 8,500 licenses already granted, “additional license packages requested by the Supreme Court could increase to as many as 35,000 and are expected to follow the same legal process as the licenses already approved by the Community of Madrid.”
These legal proceedings were initiated in 2018 and are expected to be concluded in the coming months. Cabify believes that over the past seven years, the company has “suffered significant damage due to its inability to put its vehicles into operation and thus develop its business as intended.”
The platform assures that all legal claims were accompanied by the relevant documentation, which “complies with the requirements of the transport regulations or other applicable regulations.” Therefore, they consider the allegations of the Professional Taxi Federation of Madrid (FPTM) to be unfounded and emphasize that it “shows little interest in the benefits that the arrival of additional mobility can bring to citizens.” There is also criticism that the association continues to question court rulings, forgetting that we live in a state governed by the rule of law.
The FPTM has called for protests on the 20th to mobilize against the awarding of 8,500 new licenses by the Community of Madrid. According to the organization, Cabify has “committed irregularities that reveal the ‘traps’ of the well-known VTC company in submitting the necessary documentation to obtain such licenses.”
Collaboration with the Taxi
Cabify emphasizes that the company has always been committed to coexistence and cooperation within the entire sector. “We have approached taxi drivers on numerous occasions, including regarding these licenses,” they explain, pointing out that approximately one-third of taxis (5,000) in Madrid operate with the Cabify application.
For the platform, the introduction of new licenses “represents an opportunity to create quality jobs and prosperity for the entire region and for thousands of people, as the unions have also emphasized. If these 45,000 licenses are finally granted, we are talking about a multitude of jobs being promoted by a company like Cabify, which could become one of the largest job generators in our country,” they conclude.
