The Czech capital Prague plans to allow only zero-emission taxis and ride-hailing vehicles to operate in the city from 2030, under a proposal aimed at cutting air pollution and modernising an aging vehicle fleet, city officials said.
Under a draft revision to taxi operating rules, vehicles used for taxi and ride-hailing services would first be required to meet at least the Euro 6d emissions standard from Aug. 1, 2027. From Jan. 1, 2030, only vehicles powered exclusively by electricity or hydrogen would be permitted to operate in the city, according to the proposal.
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City authorities described the plan as a “gradual tightening of technical and emission-related requirements” to be implemented through a binding municipal ordinance. The proposal still requires approval from the Prague City Council, but officials said advance notice was necessary to give operators time to adjust business models and renew fleets.
“According to available data, taxis in Prague cover around 250 to 300 kilometres daily, while vehicles from platforms such as Uber, Bolt, or Wolt travel more than twice that distance,” said Jaromír Beránek, Prague’s deputy mayor for transport. “Even if an operator were to purchase a new internal combustion engine vehicle today, it would clock up an average of over 350,000 kilometres in four years and reach the end of its service life.”
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Beránek said the review was driven by structural changes in the sector. The average age of taxis in Prague now exceeds 10 years, while the number of vehicles meeting only older Euro 4 and Euro 5 standards is increasing. At the same time, the number of licensed taxi vehicles has surged to more than 16,000 in 2024 from fewer than 3,000 in 2017, reflecting rapid growth in ride-hailing services.
“Taxi services are now a key component of urban transport, but for a long time, there were no clear rules that reflected their actual significance. This must change,” Beránek said. He added that transport was the city’s main source of air pollution and that frequent road users would need to be targeted to meet stricter emissions limits due to take effect in 2030.
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The city said it expects charging infrastructure capacity to be sufficient by the end of the decade, estimating 4,000 to 4,500 standard charging points and 150 to 200 fast and ultra-fast chargers, developed jointly by the municipality, private investors and taxi operators.
An earlier proposal published in February 2025 had focused on limiting new taxi registrations to battery-electric vehicles from late 2029. The latest draft makes clear that the restrictions would apply to all taxi and ride-hailing operations, not only new vehicles.