The end of the BTP permit: what it was and what you need to drive a taxi today

The BTP permit was a special authorisation that the DGT (Spain's traffic authority) required for driving taxis, ambulances, emergency vehicles and school transport in passenger cars. It was abolished to bring the Spanish system into line with the categories of the European driving licence, which had no equivalent. Those who held it kept it valid until renewal, and from then on the document no longer mentions it. Today, to drive a taxi in Madrid, what counts is an ordinary driving licence together with the municipal taxi driver's permit issued by the City Council.

The BTP was a category unique to Spain, added on top of the category B licence. It did not allow you to drive larger vehicles, but rather to use passenger cars for specific purposes:

• Taxis and other public passenger transport vehicles.
• Ambulances and emergency vehicles.
• School transport and transport of minors in passenger cars.

To obtain it you had to have held a category B licence for a certain time and pass specific tests, as well as stricter medical checks. Its peculiarity was that it only existed in Spain and was only valid within the country.

The European Union harmonised driving licence categories through its common directive, so that a licence issued in one country is equivalent in the others. The BTP did not fit that scheme. The DGT announced its abolition on the grounds that the vehicles it authorised could be driven with the categories already provided for in the European licence, and the change was incorporated into the General Drivers Regulations.

When we published the first version of this article, the measure was still going through the process. Today the BTP is no longer issued, and the rules on who can drive professionally have shifted towards other requirements.

Nothing changed straight away for drivers who already held it: they carried on working as normal. When they renewed their licence, the BTP entry no longer appeared on the new document, with no need for any extra paperwork or to sit the test again. Working taxi, ambulance and school transport drivers were able to carry on without interruption.

With the BTP gone, the main filter for becoming a taxi driver lies in the taxi regulations themselves, which are regional and municipal. In Madrid, as well as a driving licence, you need the municipal taxi driver's permit, which requires passing an exam on the street map, the city's points of interest, taxi regulations and fares, among other requirements. We explain it step by step in requirements for working as a taxi driver and in how to become a taxi driver.

Driving a taxi is not the same as holding the licence: the licence is the municipal authorisation to provide the service with a vehicle, and it has its own procedure, which we cover in do you know how to get a taxi licence. The general framework all this fits into is reviewed in the national taxi regulations.

For anyone getting into a taxi, the end of the BTP does not change the safeguards. Whoever drives an official taxi in Madrid has a valid driving licence and the municipal permit that qualifies them for the service, and the vehicle holds a licence from the City Council. That is what sets a professional taxi driver apart from an unauthorised driver.

Our airport transfers are carried out by official taxis licensed by Madrid City Council. You can book your airport taxi in advance or for the same day, and check the fixed price for your area on our fares page: from inside the M-30, €33.