Cabify will withdraw its shared motorbike service in Barcelona at the end of the month, a decision which will mean that the company's 632 purple motorbikes will disappear from the city's streets. However, users will be able to continue using the shared motorbike service through an agreement with Cooltra, the platform to which they will be redirected through the application. Likewise, the VTC service will continue to operate as normal.
Sources from the company, based in Madrid, argued that its presence in Barcelona has ceased to fit in with its business since in July regulations will come into force that will be unfavorable to them.
With this decision, Cabify joins the list of operators that have been leaving Barcelona in recent years due to profitability problems and lack of compliance with municipal regulations. In fact, only three of the nine operators who obtained permits from Barcelona City Council continue. As can be seen in the app store of a smartphone, Seat Mó, Cityscoot, Reby, Oiz, Tucycle and Avant are no longer available, and now the user can only access Cooltra, Yego and Action
In compliance with the regulations, these three companies operate in Barcelona with the same number of vehicles – 632 – and have never been able to take over the fleet of applications that have left the city. Nor will they do it with the Cabify fleet, so from May around 1,900 shared motorbikes will be available in the city, a figure that is far from the 7,000 licenses allowed by Barcelona City Council.
The situation could change from the month of July, when new regulations promoted by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, which has taken over the powers of the multi-user motorbike service, will come into force with the aim of expanding the service to other cities in the Barcelona area, such as Badalona or l'Hospitalet de Llobregat.
According to industry sources, the new regulations will grant up to 15,000 shared motorcycle licenses. The companies that will choose to manage the service are not yet known. In any case, Cabify will not do so, as it indicated yesterday that the new conditions do not suit its business. On the other hand, Cooltra will present itself in the public tender, assured yesterday the CEO, Timo Buetefish, who founded this company in Barcelona.
