A Portuguese Ride-Hailing App Registers 500 Drivers in Ten Days, Taking a 15 Percent Cut, and Heads for Porto and Braga Next

A new Portuguese ride-hailing app, POP, says it registered more than 2,000 passengers and about 500 drivers in its first ten days, after it began operating in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley on 1 October. The company, POPAPP Tecnologia e Mobilidade, gave the figures in a statement on Sunday, reported by the Lusa news agency, and said it plans to start in the Porto metropolitan area, Braga and Guimarães "within days".

The company was careful to say what the numbers mean: they "correspond to registrations on the platform, not to the number of active users or of trips made". Its priority now, it said, is to turn interest in the app into regular use, by adding drivers so that passengers' requests are answered.

What POP offers

POP presents itself as a "Portuguese alternative" in a market dominated by large international platforms. Its main pitch is to drivers and the operators they work for:

• A 15 percent commission, calculated on the fare before VAT.
• Fares shown up front: drivers can see what they will be paid per minute and per kilometre, and the route, before they accept a trip.
• Payment costs absorbed for now: during the first months, POP says it is covering payment processing and self-billing costs out of its own commission rather than passing them on, which it describes as temporary support.

For passengers, the app offers support in Portuguese and three special services: Lady POP, which lets a woman passenger choose a woman driver; Sénior POP, aimed at people who want more help during the trip; and PET POP, for travelling with a pet. Expansion beyond the first regions will be gradual, the company says, in step with its capacity to answer requests.

A market reshaped by the new law

POP arrives a month after Portugal's new ride-hailing law came into force on 1 September. Law no. 59/2026, which amends the original 2018 law (Law no. 45/2018), redefines TVDE, the Portuguese term for app-based ride services, as paid passenger transport in electronically booked vehicles. The most disputed change brings taxis into the system: a taxi can now register for TVDE work, provided it meets the vehicle requirements and is signed up with a licensed platform. Since the law took effect, hundreds of taxi firms have applied to join Bolt.

The law also brings changes that passengers will notice:

• Vehicles must carry a fixed identification sticker, issued by the Institute for Mobility and Transport (IMT), with anti-fraud security features such as holograms and visible from outside.
• Drivers must complete at least 50 hours of initial training, theory and practice, followed by a 30-question exam in which they must get at least 27 right.

The sticker is the simplest check for passengers on any platform: if the car that pulls up does not carry one, or does not match the vehicle shown in the app, do not get in.

Taxi passengers face changes of their own this week: new taxi fare rules start on 14 October, charging for distance and time together over the whole ride.