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

  • Nearly 40% of UK councils need more funding for parking and transport programmes, says Passport
    November 29, 2018
    More than a third of UK councils say they receive inadequate funding for parking and public transportation programmes, according to software provider Passport. This figure is from Passport’s report - Solving the UK’s Traffic Challenges – which was discussed at a roundtable event in London this week. It took findings from two independent studies which Passport carried out as part of its launch in the UK. One polled 1,000 UK motorists while the other surveyed over 50 council employees working within p
  • San Francisco plans express lane network across Bay Area
    February 25, 2015
    Colin Sowman looks at plans to convert 240km (150 miles) of HOV/car pool lanes. While some authorities have debated the conversion of high occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV) into express or managed lanes allowing toll paying single-occupant vehicles to avoid congestion, San Francisco’s Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has acted. It is converting 240km (150 miles) of HOV/car pool lanes to express lanes and last fall the MTC’s Bay Area Infrastructure Financing Authority selected TransCore to d
  • Intelligent parking guidance relieves congestion, reduces costs
    July 24, 2012
    O R Tambo International Airport, near the city of Johannesburg, is the largest airport in Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is one of 10 airports operated by Airports Company South Africa (ACSA). This airport places a massive demand on road infrastructure and parking facilities since a majority of travellers get to the airport by motor vehicle. The demand for parking left many people searching for a parking space for eight minutes or more
  • Investment in pedestrian, cycling initiatives pays off
    June 30, 2014
    Five years after the Non-motorised Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP) was established to measure the impact of investment in walking and cycling initiatives, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has reported a 22.8 per cent increase in walking and a 48.3 per cent increase in cycling, while an estimated 85.1 million vehicle miles were avoided. The NTPP provided approximately US$25 million each to four pilot communities (Columbia, Missouri; Marin County, California; Minneapolis area, Minnesota; an