up to nine seatsbut The sector has already renamed the standard and, symbolically, has taken up arms. U Among taxi drivers and parliamentarians, many know her as the Titus law Being its main promoter is the leader of Barcelona taxi drivers, Tito Álvarez. The bill was registered on September 25 by PSC, ERC, CUP, Comuns and Junts. In the coming weeks the debate will begin, but the number of groups that presented it suggests that there will be no problems in the anti-uber law (Titus law o taxi law) will be a reality in 2026.
The project hardly makes any concessions to the service, which is largely in the hands of Uber and Cabify. As soon as the rule comes into force (if it retains the current articles) it will mean the elimination of 600 of the 990 VTC licenses currently in force in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (there are 10,517 taxi licenses). In addition to the reduction of licenses, when it is necessary to authorize new permits, administrations will prioritize the creation of taxi licenses and if new VTCs are required, they will only be granted short authorizations (two years), which will not be automatically renewed, will not be transferable and – ultimately – will disappear as they expire.
In addition to these limitations, the Generalitat reserves the ability not to renew licenses if they consider that they do not comply with ecological or environmental criteria and to impose temporary limitations on VTCs if it considers that there is a saturation of supply. In addition, the new legal project puts some of the taxi and VTC drivers in trouble. It requires both some and others to accredit a B1 level of Catalan, which is the elementary level. The regulations reward the taxi and place it at the top of the transportation hierarchy, classifying it as: “economic service of general interest.”
Faced with such an offensive, the VTC businessmen have already been mobilized for weeks trying to stop a law that, if approved, will hardly be paralyzed in the courts and will mean the death of the sector in Barcelona. The executive president of Unauto – the VTC employer’s association -, José Manuel Berzal, admits that one of the big problems is that the bill directly torpedoes the services that these vehicles perform thanks to digital platforms (Uber and Cabify). Against all odds, Berzal assures that the sector’s efforts, now, are not focused on litigation. “We hold meetings with the different parliamentary groups. Our efforts are now focused on convincing them to modify the project so that taxis and VTC can coexist. We want to find a meeting space,” announces Berzal. The president of Unauto admits that efforts are now focused on seeking that agreement and – without it – they will open the door to “other types of actions” although he defends that “they are not at that point.” Unauto has indeed filed a lawsuit before the Human Rights Court against the VTC immobilizations in the metropolitan area for “the violation of the presumption of innocence” when applied with a “simple” administrative complaint.
José María Cazallas is the secretary of the Free Transport Union that represents the interests of VTC drivers. Cazallas is also concerned with the future anti-uber law. “We are going to meet with all the parties that want to talk with us. We need them to present amendments to make it easier for the 4,000 VTC workers to continue working. Most of us are over 55 years old, from companies that have closed and we have this job as a refuge,” defends the workers’ leader. The union, like the employers, is going to move all its chips to try “a peaceful coexistence” between the taxi and the VTC.
The general director of Uber in Spain and Portugal, Felipe Fernández Aramburu, is clear: “The new law does not benefit anyone: thousands of workers will lose their jobs, finding a taxi in Barcelona will be even more difficult and Catalonia will stop its progress towards more sustainable and electric mobility. Meanwhile, here we are debating whether the waiting time should be 20 or 30 minutes.” Fernández criticizes the bill and assures that with this regulation there are services – such as Uber shared by people going in the same direction – that will never see the light of day in the Catalan capital.
The sectors involved in VTC will not hesitate to try to influence political parties, but, if the anti-uber law goes ahead, what could they do to ensure that their business does not disappear in Barcelona? Marc Tarrés is a professor of administrative law at the University of Barcelona and an expert in the VTC and taxi sectors. Tarrés maintains that there are several fundamental aspects of the law that are “questionable” such as considering taxis a service of general economic interest or the limitation of VTCs based on environmental and traffic congestion criteria.
“The taxi has learned that when the metropolitan area of Barcelona approves regulations, they end up being attacked in other instances. Attacking a law is not so easy. A tenth of the deputies can request an opinion from the guarantee council but that would only delay the regulation for a month. When it is approved, this law will be applicable. I think it will need a regulatory development and, there, the first avenue of attack will be opened when the regulations are challenged in the contentious room. of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia. A question of constitutionality may arise and, in the end, end up in the Court of Justice of the European Union,” predicts the professor. “When the standard reaches the European Union, so much time will have passed since its entry into force that it will have already killed a large part of the VTCs,” he concludes.
The main instigator of the law is Tito Álvarez, leader of Barcelona taxi drivers and spokesperson for the Elite Taxi lobby. This Sunday, he and other taxi drivers will distribute 20,000 leaflets near the Olympic Stadium to denounce the agreement reached between Uber and Barça. “We are going to press for this law to be approved before the end of the year and thus prevent the president of Uber, José Manuel Berzal, from imposing what his friends Esperanza Aguirre and Isabel Días Ayuso imposed in Madrid,” argues Álvarez.
According to data from the Ministry of Transport as of September 1, 2025, in the Community of Madrid there are 16,035 taxis and 9,749 VTCs, figures significantly higher than those of Barcelona. “The legal trajectory of the law once it is applied is, at least, five years,” Álvarez acknowledges. “Until now, the ones who suffered were the taxi drivers. Now the fear is going to change sides. They know that if in less than two years they impose three sanctions on a VTC, their authorization will be revoked. In addition, we are going to try to get the Catalan level of the drivers to be B2. There are so many obstacles that when the time comes for Europe to make a resolution, they will have already died. It is the checkmate of Uber and Cabify in Barcelona.”
