Uber and Bolt drivers are going on strike this morning. Here's what's behind it.

Good morning, Lisbon. It's Wednesday, 29 April. Nineteen degrees, cooler than the last few days, with some rain possible this afternoon.

🌬️ AIR QUALITY: 26 (Good).

🗞️ TOP STORY

LISBON'S RIDE-HAILING DRIVERS ARE STRIKING TODAY. THE STORY BEHIND IT IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN THE APPS.

This morning, TVDE drivers and operators are gathering at Campo Pequeno at 10am in a national protest. Victor Soares of ANM-TVDE expects more than a thousand drivers to stop working across the country, with drivers in other cities switching off the apps wherever they are. After gathering at Campo Pequeno, drivers plan to walk to the Lisbon offices of Bolt on Avenida da Liberdade and Uber on Avenida Barbosa du Bocage before arriving at the Assembly of the Republic at around 1pm. For anyone relying on Uber or Bolt to get around Lisbon today, that is the practical note. For everyone else, the reasons behind the walkout are worth understanding.

TVDE is the Portuguese legal classification for ride-hailing vehicles. There are around 39,000 active certified TVDE drivers in Portugal, the majority operating in Lisbon and Porto. The sector has been in dispute with the platforms, primarily Uber and Bolt, for years over fare rates. The three demands that unite the two main organising associations, APTAD and ANM-TVDE, are higher fares from the platforms, government fuel support, and opposition to a proposed law change that would allow taxis to enter the TVDE market. Ivo Fernandes of APTAD described fares as "completely unbearable" and "already below the cost price." Bolt has previously said it respects driver protests and maintains open contact with fleet representatives. Uber has not publicly responded to the April 29 demands.

The law governing TVDE activity is Law 45/2018. It has needed updating for years and has not been updated. In mid-March, the revision passed to committee stage in parliament, approved by PSD and CDS-PP. The PSD proposal would allow taxis to enter the TVDE market, something the Mobility and Transport Authority itself has opposed and which driver associations are also against.

There is a third dimension that connects this directly to a story this newsletter has been covering all month. On 15 April, the exceptional validity period for expired residence permits ended. Around 8,000 immigrant TVDE drivers, many of them Brazilian, had their platform accounts blocked because Uber requires a valid physical residence document to keep accounts active. These drivers renewed their permits months ago, in some cases as far back as August 2025. The physical cards have not arrived. AIMA says 87% of the 90,000 processes decided since June 2025 have resulted in cards being sent. The remaining thousands are stuck somewhere between a decision and a delivery, and the drivers bearing that cost most directly are the ones whose income depends on an app that will not let them log in without a card they are still waiting for. Bolt has said it is offering to collaborate with affected drivers during a grace period, but without a new government decree standardising acceptance of pending documents, the situation remains unresolved.

Running in parallel today, a separate group of delivery workers on Glovo and Uber Eats has announced a 24-hour stoppage, citing what they describe as algorithmic exploitation and precarious working conditions.

Today's gathering makes all of this visible in a way that a queue at an AIMA office does not.

Bottom line: If you need a ride in Lisbon today, plan for reduced availability, particularly during the morning. Taxis are unaffected. Public transport is running normally.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Mortgage rates are creeping up again. The 6-month Euribor, the benchmark that sets roughly 40% of Portugal's variable-rate mortgages, has risen to 2.385%. If you're on a variable rate, your next review will reflect the increase. If your fixed period is ending soon, this is worth factoring into whether to refix or ride it out.

Fuel prices are shifting this week. Diesel is expected to fall slightly while petrol rises, according to forecasts published over the weekend. If you're topping up, diesel drivers benefit from filling up later in the week; petrol drivers benefit from filling up now.

May Day is Thursday. 1 May is a public holiday. Banks, government offices, and most public services will be closed. Combined with the weekend, it's effectively a four-day break for anyone who can take Friday off. Worth planning around if you haven't already.

The weather is turning this week. IPMA has issued yellow warnings for precipitation and thunderstorms across most of mainland Portugal today and tomorrow. Temperatures in Lisbon are dropping from the mid-twenties of the long weekend back to the high teens. Some relief is expected Thursday, with a gradual recovery into the weekend.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

VINO VERO (GRAÇA)

Travessa do Monte is a narrow, lively street in Graça that most people find by following noise rather than a map. Vino Vero, which opened here in May 2019, is what happens when an Italian natural wine bar lands in the right city at exactly the right moment. Giulia Capaccioli came to Lisbon from the original Vino Vero in Venice to launch the Lisbon outpost, and it has become one of the neighbourhood's defining spots, the kind of place locals claim as theirs while accepting that word got out a while ago.

The wines are almost entirely natural and low-intervention, rotating constantly, sourced from small Portuguese producers alongside bottles from Italy and elsewhere in Europe. The staff know every wine on the list and will tell you exactly why they chose it. Small plates alongside: burrata, octopus, charcuterie, petiscos with an Italian edge. The terrace fills on warm evenings and the inside gets lively late.

→ See why locals keep coming back ←

Travessa do Monte 30, Graça. Opens in the late afternoon. Reservations recommended at weekends.

Insider tip: Go before 8pm if you want a table on the terrace. After 10pm it is standing room only and nobody seems to mind.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.