Lisbon, April 4, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal had more than 37,000 ride-hailing drivers in March, the vast majority of whom were male and came from 98 nationalities, the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT) said on Friday. The data, collected as part of the platform developed by the IMT, Uber and Bolt to share data on ride-hailing in Portugal, revealed that in March the sector had 37,495 active drivers in Portugal, of which 90.1% were men and only 9.8 % women, the IMT said in a statement. More than half of all drivers (59.4%) were aged between 30 and 49 and only 8.7% of drivers (3,271) were aged 60 or over. The platform's data shows great diversity in terms of the country of origin of active drivers, with a total of 98 nationalities represented. The majority were from Portugal (52.8% of the total), followed by Brazil (20.6%) and India (10.4%). More than two-thirds (76.4%) of active drivers in March had Portuguese as their mother tongue (from Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Cabo Verde). Last month, 34,447 ride-hailing vehicles were active, of which 66.9% had combustion engines and almost a third (32.9%) were fuelled by alternative fuels. As for the age of the vehicles, 61.7% of the total were less than five years old and more than 38% were between five and seven years old. The data also shows that there were 11,894 valid operators in March. The platform for sharing data on drivers, vehicles, and ride-hailing operators in Portugal began operating on 28 February. On 7 March, the IMT revealed that there were then around 76,000 certified drivers in the country, 37,318 of whom provided services through Uber and Bolt in February. The data also indicated more than 21,000 certified operators, although only 11,875 were active in February. As for vehicles, 34,604 were active during the same month. In a statement, the president of the IMT, João Jesus Caetano, said today that this data-sharing platform aims to "gain a deeper understanding of the sector, based on quantitative and qualitative data, paving the way for more informed, dynamic and robust supervision, which will also be very useful in the context of the ongoing debate on the revision of the ride-hailing sector's legislation". The legal regime for the ride-hailing sector, published in August 2018, provided for an evaluation three years after its entry into force. This followed a report by the IMT, which was made public at the end of 2022, and an opinion by the Mobility and Transport Authority (AMT) with proposals for changes to the law. The first amendment to what has also become known as the "Uber law", passed last December, established rules for obtaining and renewing a driver's certificate. It states that drivers must be aware of the rules of the activity and "have the skills to drive safely". In mid-January, bills from the PSD and IL to change the legal regime for ride-hailing were referred to the Economy, Public Works and Housing committee without a general vote. The PCP and Chega had also presented legislative initiatives but were rejected. At the end of February, entities linked to the ride-hailing and taxi sectors began to be heard in the Economy, Housing and Public Works Committee about the changes to law 45/2018. RCS/ADB // ADB. Lusa