How many taxi licences are there in Spain? 60,469 in 2026

In short: Spain has 60,469 taxi authorisations (figure from early July 2026) and 27,107 VTC (as of 1 September 2026), according to the Ministry of Transport register. Taxis have lost more than 3,000 authorisations so far this year, but that number is misleading, and it is worth understanding why.

How many taxi licences there are in Spain in 2026

These are the figures from the Ministry of Transport register, as reported by La Revista del Taxi:

The two figures are not from the same date, and that matters: the taxi number is from early July 2026 and the VTC one from 1 September. In percentage terms, taxis are down 4.7% and VTC up around 12%.

Why the fall in taxis is not what it looks like

Here is the detail almost no headline mentions. 2026 is a mandatory visado year for both VT and VTC authorisations. The visado is a periodic administrative renewal, and authorisations that do not complete it in time stop appearing as valid for a while, although they can be reinstated later.

In other words, some of those 3,005 licences missing from the register are not taxis that have shut up shop, but paperwork still pending. La Revista del Taxi says so explicitly: the drop cannot be read directly as the definitive disappearance of more than 3,000 taxis.

The underlying trend is real: the taxi register has been shrinking for a while and the VTC one growing. But the size of this year's fall is inflated by the administrative calendar, and anyone telling you otherwise has not read the small print.

Where VTC licences are concentrated

The breakdown by province as of 1 September 2026, according to figures published by La Gaceta del Taxi, makes clear this is not a uniform national phenomenon:

Madrid alone holds around 36% of all VTC in the country. Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga together account for more than half. If you work outside those cities, the noise about platform competition looks little like what you see on your shift.

What it means for taxi drivers

First, be wary of a number on its own. A headline saying taxis lost 3,000 licences without mentioning the visado is telling half the story. You do not make business decisions on half stories.

Second, competition is local. What happens in Madrid or Málaga tells you nothing about your city. In Catalonia the framework may also change: the new Catalan taxi law proposes cutting Barcelona's VTC licences.

Third, the figure that really affects you is your own. Whether Spain has 60,000 taxis or 63,000 does not change what comes in for you this week. What changes it is how many hours you work, what each one pays and what goes out in expenses.

How Taxio handles it

Taxio does not keep the sector's statistics, it keeps yours. You log every ride with its platform commission and every expense, and the app shows your real average euros per hour and your net instead of gross. Next time a licence headline lands, you can compare what it says with what your own numbers say, which is the only thing that pays bills.

Frequently asked questions about taxi licences in Spain