Portugal: Lisbon aims to have new tul-tuk rules before summer

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Portugal: Lisbon aims to have new tul-tuk rules before summer

8:53 CAT | 06 Dec 2024

File photo: Lusa

The new municipal regulation for tuk tuks in Lisbon should be in force by next summer, the deputy mayor, Filipe Anacoreta Correia, said on Thursday.

‘I aimed for it to be in place for next year’s tourist calendar. I’d like it to be up and running before the summer, but my goal wasn’t. It was actually at least before Easter. Let’s try and see if it’s possible next year.

To do this, we have the public discussion, it goes to the Municipal Assembly, and we have to go through all these steps, but I would very much like it to be possible. I think it would be an important step,’ said the deputy mayor, who today went to explain to the councillors at the Lisbon Municipal Assembly (AML).

Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP), who is responsible for Mobility at Lisbon City Council (CML), pointed out that the capital’s model ‘is innovative’ and was made ‘in partnership and dialogue’ with entrepreneurs. The municipality’s process is ‘dynamically monitored’.

The proposal for the ‘Regulation of Vehicles Used for Non-Heavy Tourist Entertainment in the Municipality of Lisbon’ aims to ‘halve’ the number of tuk-tuks in the city.

‘At first, it will be less than half, and then there will be the possibility of extending it if the need arises,’ he said.

The deputy mayor pointed out that the matter ‘isn’t easy’, and ‘several municipalities that have put forward proposals for regulations or proposals for conditioning are in court’ in litigation, ‘because, as they are tourist vehicles (…), municipalities don’t have an easy time limiting this transport’.

To control these tourist vehicles, the council intends to create its own car parks for the tuk-tuks, which will need a specific licence from the council in addition to the one already required.

In addition to this new municipal licence, the councillor also acknowledged that streets could be made more restrictive to the traffic of these tourist vehicles.

On 31 July, CML announced its intention to limit tuk-tuk parking spaces and the number of licences granted to this type of vehicle to regulate the activity in the city.

On 6 November, the city council approved the start of the draft regulations for vehicles used for non-heavy tourist entertainment, including ‘tuk tuk’, with the participation of any interested parties, within 20 working days.

With the approval of the public hearing process, the council plans to discuss the regulations at a meeting ‘by the end of this year’.

Source: Lusa