Drivers providing ride-hailing services held a protest against the new restrictions in Albufera.

To interpret Michael Bruxo's news; Things are not calming down in the Algarve, this time things are getting messy in Albufeira. More than 100 TVDE (ride-hailing) drivers gathered in front of Albufeira City Hall, honking their horns and holding protest banners. The thing is; The municipality stood up and abruptly banned TVDE vehicles from entering the liveliest parts of the city—especially the famous nightlife street on the Oura side and the Old City center. Justification? According to Mayor Rui Cristina, these vehicles were blocking traffic at a time when tourism was at its peak, and even preventing ambulances and fire brigade from passing. So what do the drivers in the field say? Literally "Nobody talked to us!" He has anger. We are talking about people who have been in this business for years or who come here from all over Portugal in the summer to earn a living. The reaction of José Antunes, one of the drivers, seemed to summarize the situation: "You are not the king of Albufeira, we have the right to work anywhere in the country." Frankly, when you look at the side of the drivers and the association (ANM-TVDE), they are not wrong. They had previously submitted solution proposals to the municipality many times to ease the city's traffic, but they did not receive a single response. Unfortunately, the problem cannot be solved with the logic of "let's close the road and let it go". The mayor comes out and makes a statement like "What's going to happen? Let the passengers walk a little", but there are elderly people, there are disabled people, there are tourists stranded with their luggage... They never took this into account. The legal aspect of the matter is also a separate mystery. Industry representatives shout loudly: "Municipalities do not have the authority to ban TVDE vehicles, this authority belongs to the state." But the mayor sees this as a 'trial process' and is in the mood to expand it to other neighborhoods if necessary. All the drivers want is a rational common road: Instead of imposing bans, they say, let's determine passenger pick-up and drop-off points, so that there will be no traffic congestion and people will not lose their jobs. I hope they stop this stubbornness and sit at the same table, otherwise neither the tourists nor the drivers trying to bring home bread will be happy in Albufeira this summer.