News 18 July 2026

Portugal's new ride-hailing law lets taxis join the apps — and taxi drivers are furious

Parliament approved a revision of Portugal's TVDE ride-hailing law allowing taxis to register on platforms. The ANTUP taxi association accuses lawmakers of ignoring dumping by multinationals.

The revision of Portugal’s TVDE law — the rulebook for Uber-style ride-hailing — cleared parliament on Friday, and it took less than 24 hours for the taxi sector to declare war on it. ANTUP, the national taxi association, answered with “profound repudiation and indignation” at a bill it says solves the wrong problem.

What changes in Portugal’s TVDE law?

The change with the most practical bite is bringing taxis into the platform world: taxis will be able to register for TVDE activity, provided they meet the applicable requirements and sign up with a licensed electronic platform operator. In practice, the same car that picks you up at a rank could soon show up in your app. The PSD and CDS-PP bills passed their first vote with support from PSD, Chega, CDS-PP and JPP; PS, IL, Livre, PCP and BE voted against, with PAN abstaining.

Why are taxi drivers talking about dumping?

Because, for ANTUP, the critical issue was left out entirely: selling rides below cost to suffocate competition, a practice the association pins on the big multinational platforms and describes as a crime that “destroys the business fabric” of public passenger transport. Instead of policing and punishing it, the association says, lawmakers have “rolled out the red carpet” for the platforms. The sector’s official framework — licences, requirements, obligations — sits with Portugal’s transport regulator IMT, and the fine print of the new law is still to be written, which promises several more rounds of this fight.

All of it lands in a week that was already rough on anyone who drives for a living — fuel prices jump on Monday, with diesel up more than 13 cents a litre. Between the app, the rank and the pump, Portugal’s passenger-transport summer is shaping up to be anything but quiet.

By Marta Carneiro

Image: Jsobral / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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