Skip to main content

Barcelona council introduces tax for bike and moped sharing services

Barcelona City Council has approved a tax which will require bike and moped shared services to pay €75 per vehicle per year to operate. The tax is designed to regulate companies to limit their presence and minimise impact on public space. Licences are obligatory and non-transferable for vehicles, valid for three years, with the option of an additional year. They will be regulated through a ‘decree’ which is expected to be finished by the end of March. A second decree will regulate parking facilities to
March 1, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
4969 Barcelona City Council has approved a tax which will require bike and moped shared services to pay €75 per vehicle per year to operate.


The tax is designed to regulate companies to limit their presence and minimise impact on public space.

Licences are obligatory and non-transferable for vehicles, valid for three years, with the option of an additional year. They will be regulated through a ‘decree’ which is expected to be finished by the end of March.

A second decree will regulate parking facilities to ensure private bike users have enough places in the city. These will be marked in purple.

According to the council, these regulations will allow the issue of 2,650 licences for bikes and 4,639 licences for mopeds, which could potentially double the city’s existing fleet.

Requisites for obtaining licences include:

• Vehicles must be used once they are issued with licences
• Push bikes, electric bikes and electric mopeds must all meet municipal sustainability criteria
• All vehicles must include geo-localisation systems
• Faulty or damaged vehicles must be removed within 24 hours
• Municipal access to data on the use of the system in real time
• All mopeds must be parked according to municipal regulations set out in the by-law on the circulation of pedestrians and vehicles

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Sprawl spreads the costs and confines the benefits
    June 8, 2015
    A new report says car-centric planning leads to inefficient cities and divided communities as lead author Todd Litman explains. Between 1950 and 2050 the human population will have approximately quadrupled and shifted from 80% rural to nearly 80% urban; by the middle of this century the United Nations predicts an additional 2.2 billion urban residents in developing countries than there are today. How these cities grow has huge economic, social and environmental impacts and implementing proper policies can c
  • Smart mobility on the rise, says ABI Research
    May 10, 2016
    As extreme pollution and congestion in urban areas coupled with limited transportation options continues to challenge major cities across the globe, market intelligence firm ABI Research, predicts an imminent rise in smart electric mobility. Data analysis forecasts global electric vehicle revenue will hit US$58 billion in 2021, more than five times its market value in 2015. "The role of vehicle electrification in urban areas is part of a broader smart mobility model that includes shared vehicles, chargi
  • Better liveability through more micromobility
    November 1, 2022
    Shared and micromobility offer new options, weaning urbanites off their cars, stitching existing mass transit combinations together. Andrew Stone looks at a report on transforming our cities
  • Ford, Uber and Lyft to share data through SharedStreets
    October 3, 2018
    Ford, Uber and Lyft will make data sets available on the SharedStreets platform in a bid to help cities and mobility companies manage congestion, cut greenhouse gases and reduce crashes. The commitment was announced at the second annual Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York. SharedStreets is funded by the Bloomberg Philanthropies consortium. Its aim is to make it easier for the private sector to work with cities around the world and utilise data to improve mobility. According to Ford, the partn