Trips in Uber, Bolt and Cabify over 100 euros at the exit of concerts or music festivals may have their days numbered in the Community of Madrid. The regional government is already working on the draft of the first regulation for this type of transport and one of the main issues that will be addressed is to limit "abusive increases" in price that occur both in the celebration of macro events and in the sections of high demand.

Sources from the Ministry of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure say that at the moment they are working on the draft of the project, with the intention that it is finalized before the end of this year, to take it to public information and that allegations can be made. In the regulation, the first that the region will have in this matter, it will be proposed to include this price control on specific occasions of high demand, the prohibition of active recruitment and misleading advertising from these companies and the cancellations of services and unjustified delays of drivers will be penalized.

In parallel, the department directed by Jorge Rodrigo continues to advance in a new regulation also for the taxi, which is currently in the process of studying the allegations and that the regional government intends to have approved also at the end of the year. Within the proposal raised by the Executive of Isabel Díaz Ayuso includes the possibility that professionals can acquire the vehicle through a purchase or with the renting regime or the requirement of having minimum knowledge of languages, first aid or relevant places in Madrid – this last point is already included because the holders of the licenses are subjected to an examination where they are required to know the street map of the capital-.

What is ruled out in the Ministry of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure, which yesterday presented at an informative breakfast the guidelines set for this legislature, is the elimination of the fixed rate in taxis. These lines do include the extension of the taxi on demand that already operates in 31 towns in the Sierra Norte de Madrid. In that area of the region this system, which consists of the user arranging a taxi service between these municipalities with a price of four euros on journeys of less than 40 kilometers and eight in the higher, will be extended to nine other locations before the Christmas period.

In addition, at the start of 2024, the service will double its budget, from 600,000 to 1.2 million, to extend to 16 locations in the southwest -Cenicientos, Aldea del Fresno, Cadalso de los vidrios...- and 19 in the southeast of the region -Nuevo Baztán, Tielmes, Pozuelo del Rey...-. "We want to expand that budget so that those municipalities that are outside metropolitan environments and that have a more rural character can benefit from this transport on demand," said yesterday the Minister of Transport, Jorge Rodrigo, in statements to the press.

The head of the department was in charge of developing the work plans planned for this legislature that in matters of Transport and Infrastructure also includes the construction of four new interchanges in Conde de Casal, Legazpi, Chamartín and Valdebebas. The latter, accompanied by a deterrent parking, according to the deadlines that are handled in the Ministry, will be completed during the next year.

The other challenge facing the new counselor is the Housing policy, one of the hot spots both regionally and nationally, due to the escalation of prices and the difficulty of young people to emancipate themselves. A problem detected in the regional government and on which it intends to act with measures focused especially in the field of rent. Over the next four years the Community of Madrid proposes the industrialized construction of 1,200 apartments of one or two rooms, with a rent of less than 500 euros per month, for young people under 35 in Torrejón de la Calzada, Alcorcón, Ciempozuelos, Colmenar Viejo, Navalcarnero and the municipality of Madrid.

In addition, the regional government will also intervene in the rental of rooms. According to national data, 57% of young people in Spain arrive for the first time to housing through a rental and 30% of these do so in a shared apartment. For this, the Ministry will create a virtual platform before the end of the year through the Office of the Rent Plan to facilitate students or professionals displaced to the region the search for those rooms, bring the contact between landlord and tenant and guarantee minimum requirements. It will also include free insurance against non-payment for those who rent the house.

The last point in this matter will be to advance in the Vive Plan of affordable rent with the end of the construction of 1,900 homes of the 6,500 included in the program in the first half of 2024, with some delay due to the pandemic and the increase in the cost of materials after the Ukrainian War. In that first quarter, the regional government will also deliver the first 274 in Alcorcón with a price 40% lower than the market because these will be completed this November.

  • Uber
  • Cabify
  • Taxi
  • Isabel Diaz Ayuso
  • Transport and Tourism