Wednesday's TVDE protest reportedly drew fewer than 200 people. The real story is who wasn't there.

Good morning, Lisbon. It's Friday, 1 May. Twenty degrees, mostly clear. It's a public holiday.

🌬️ AIR QUALITY: 24 (Good).

🗞️ TOP STORY

WEDNESDAY'S TVDE PROTEST DREW ABOUT A HUNDRED PEOPLE. THE STORY ISN'T THE TURNOUT. IT'S WHY.

Organisers predicted more than a thousand drivers would stop working across the country. Reports put the turnout at somewhere between one and two hundred gathered at Campo Pequeno on Wednesday morning. They wore black t-shirts, carried black balloons, and marched on foot to the Bolt offices on Avenida da Liberdade, the Uber offices on Avenida Barbosa du Bocage, and the Assembly of the Republic, where they delivered a written set of demands by hand. The three core demands have not changed: higher fares from the platforms, government fuel support, and opposition to allowing taxis into the TVDE market under the revision of Law 45/2018.

The turnout number is worth sitting with for a moment, because it tells you something the protest itself could not. There are around 39,000 active certified TVDE drivers in Portugal. One in five of them is Brazilian, according to IMT data, and the workforce spans 98 nationalities. Around 8,000 immigrant drivers have been blocked from the apps since 15 April because their physical residence cards have not arrived from AIMA, despite renewals filed as far back as August 2025. These are the drivers with the most urgent grievance, and almost none of them were at Campo Pequeno.

The reasons are structural, not apathetic. A driver who has been locked out of Uber for two weeks and is not earning cannot afford to take a day off to protest. A driver whose immigration status is uncertain is unlikely to march to parliament and hand over documents with their name on them. The people most affected by the crisis in this sector are also the people least able to make that crisis visible. The protest was real. The absence was more informative.

Bottom line: The TVDE protest was small. The problems it was protesting are not. If you use Uber or Bolt in Lisbon, the service you receive depends on a workforce that is underpaid by the platforms, unsupported by the government on fuel, and in thousands of cases unable to work at all because of an immigration backlog that has nothing to do with driving. Today, of all days, is a reasonable moment to notice that.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Lisbon airport is now one of Europe's worst for delays, and it's about to get harder. Humberto Delgado logged 188 flight delays in a single day on 20 April and 116 on Monday alone. The EU's Entry/Exit System, which requires biometric data from every non-EU passenger, became fully mandatory on 10 April and has already caused queues of up to seven hours at peak. Portugal suspended the system entirely in December after border control failures, reinstated it, then had to pause biometric collection again in mid-April after queues once more became unmanageable. The airport has one runway, sits in a dense urban area, and has been debated as needing replacement for decades. If you're flying in or out of Lisbon this summer, arrive earlier than you think you need to. Non-EU passengers should budget an extra 45 to 60 minutes on arrival.

May Day is today. Banks, government offices, and most public services are closed. The CGTP march departs Martim Moniz at 2:30pm and heads to Alameda Dom Afonso Henriques for a rally. CGTP secretary-general Tiago Oliveira is the keynote speaker and has not ruled out calling another general strike over the Trabalho XXI labour reform. If you have never seen a May Day march in Lisbon, it is worth stepping outside this afternoon.

Property valuations hit a new record in March. Bank valuations for residential property reached a national average of €2,151 per square metre in March, a new all-time high and 16.5% above the same month last year, according to INE data released this week. At the municipal level, Lisbon city sits significantly higher at €5,198/m², followed by Cascais at €4,654/m² and Oeiras at €4,225/m². For anyone buying, selling, or renewing a lease in Lisbon right now, these are the numbers that set the conversation.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

DEAR BREAKFAST (BICA)

If you are reading this on a public holiday morning and wondering where to eat, this is the answer. Dear Breakfast opened its first location on Rua das Gaivotas in August 2017, in the triangle between Bairro Alto, Bica, and Santos, and has since expanded to four spots across the city: the original Bica, a Chiado outpost on Calçada de São Francisco with tram views from the balcony, an Alfama location near the Sé cathedral, and a newer Santos branch. All four are open today.

The concept is egg-centric and unapologetic about it. Chef Steve Brown runs a seasonal menu built around eggs Benedict on brioche (the signature, and genuinely one of the best in the city), caramel and banana pancakes, scrambled eggs with truffles, açaí bowls, and a rotating set of toasts and bagels. The juices and coffee are taken seriously. The room at the original Bica location was designed by Studio Astolfi: white-washed walls, cement arches, Portuguese marble tables, and enough natural light to make everything on your plate look better than it already is.

The queue is real, especially on weekends and holidays. Reservations are available through the website and strongly recommended today. Walk-ins at peak hours can mean a wait of 30 minutes or more, longer at the Bica location where you'll be standing on a hill.

→ Check out the egg-cellent reviews ←

Rua das Gaivotas 17, Bica. Also at Calçada de São Francisco 35 (Chiado), Largo Santo António da Sé 16 (Alfama), and Santos. Open every day from 8am to 4pm. Reservations at dearbreakfast.com.

Insider tip: Go to the Alfama location if you want space and calm. Go to Bica if you want the original room. Go to Chiado if you want the tram-watching balcony. Avoid all four between 11am and 1pm on a holiday unless you've booked.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.