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

  • Lowering the barriers to combined control rooms
    March 29, 2017
    Integrating control rooms can improve traffic management, security and emergency response without excessive cost or compromising privacy. In the wake of the recent terrorist events in France and Germany where the transport system was exploited with deadly consequences, many governments and agencies are reviewing the security arrangements – particularly around popular and high profile events. Increasing security in transport systems that must remain accessible to the general public will not be easy but in ma
  • Intertraffic Awards 2022: shortlist announced!
    February 4, 2022
    Winners will be revealed at the opening ceremony of Intertraffic Amsterdam in March
  • Legalities of in-vehicle systems and cooperative infrastructures
    February 1, 2012
    Paul Laurenza of Dykema Gossett PLLC discusses the paths which lawmakers may go down on the route to making in-vehicle systems and cooperative infrastructures a reality. The question of whether or not to mandate in-vehicle systems for safety and other applications is a vexed one. There is a presumption on some parts that going down the road of forcing systems' fitment is somehow too domineering or restricting. Others would argue that it is the only realistic way of ensuring that systems achieve widespread d
  • Asecap: get ready to rethink everything you know
    November 15, 2022
    How can we make our infrastructure ready for new sustainability challenges? What kind of investments are needed? And who will finance them? Tolling association Asecap has some thoughts. Geoff Hadwick reports from Lisbon