Driving a private hire car in Soria: a province with no high-speed rail, Medinaceli station, the A-2 to Barajas, the hospital and the villages; the method for doing the sums and this province's variables
Soria is a large, thinly populated province with no high-speed rail: the capital's station has few trains, the south goes up to Medinaceli and Madrid lies at the end of the A-15 and the A-2, with Barajas before you enter the city, 220 km from Soria. The car with a driver lives here on long connections: the villages to Santa Bárbara Hospital, Almazán and the Jalón to Medinaceli, the Moncayo to Zaragoza and the capital to Barajas in the small hours. This guide explains the method and promises nothing: the car's fixed costs, the empty kilometres of returning without a customer, the corridors with demand and the hours that get covered. The commission, the pay and the simulator are on the drivers page; there are no earnings or job figures here.
Written by Ridelta - Taxi y VTC · reviewed on 27 October 2026
What makes Soria different for a driver: no high-speed rail and the villages far apart?
Geography and the railway. Soria is one of the least populated provinces in Spain, with the capital in the middle of the upper Duero and the areas spread far apart: Almazán to the south on the A-15, El Burgo de Osma and San Esteban to the west on the Duero banks, Ágreda and Ólvega at the foot of the Moncayo beside Aragón, Covaleda, Duruelo and San Leonardo in the Pinares de Urbión, and Arcos de Jalón in the south-east on the A-2. There is no high-speed rail: Soria station has few regional trains on a line that reaches Madrid through Guadalajara, and Medinaceli station, on the conventional Madrid–Zaragoza line, is the connection for the south of the province. There is no commercial airport: flying means Barajas along the A-2, or Zaragoza from the Moncayo. And Santa Bárbara Hospital, in Soria, is the reference for everyone.
That makes long connections and internal trips the province's typical job: from the villages to the hospital with a wait, from Almazán and the Jalón to Medinaceli for a train time, from the capital and the villages to Barajas in the small hours, from the Moncayo to Zaragoza for the AVE or the airport, and from Soria to Logroño over Piqueras. To that add the industrial hub of Ágreda and Ólvega, with shifts at hours when there is no bus, and tourism: the Laguna Negra, the Río Lobos Canyon and Numancia with waiting, the mushroom season in Pinares and the San Juan fiestas. The route pages publish trips from ten origins in the province to Barajas, the Madrid stations, Medinaceli and Soria, the hospital, the venues and the neighbouring capitals, with the figure the customer sees before booking.
Which corridors have demand in this province, and what figures does the engine publish?
Five corridors, with the engine's figures the customer sees and on which you are paid. South to Madrid is the long job par excellence: Soria to Barajas, 220 km and about 148 min, from 269,36 €, along the A-15 and the A-2, and from the west, El Burgo de Osma to Barajas, 166 km, via Aranda and the A-1. The Medinaceli connections are medium-length and repeat to a train time: Almazán to the station, 40 km, from 59,77 €; Arcos de Jalón to the station, 18 km. The hospital brings the whole province in the morning: Ágreda to Santa Bárbara, 53 km, and Covaleda to Santa Bárbara, 49 km. The east looks to Zaragoza: Soria to Zaragoza, 153 km, and Ólvega to Soria for the shifts, 45 km. And tourism with waiting, Laguna Negra, Río Lobos and Numancia, is paid for the day as a whole, with the stops and the waiting inside the fixed price the customer accepted.
Demand has seasons, and knowing them is part of the method. The San Juan fiestas, in late June, fill the capital, bring the people of Soria back from Madrid and Zaragoza and send people out at night to the villages after the last bus has gone; in July and August the villages multiply their population, with arrivals and departures bunched at the start and end of the month and fiestas in each one; in autumn, the mushroom season fills Pinares and the area around El Burgo and the Río Lobos at weekends; in winter, Piqueras, Santa Inés and the Moncayo change the times and may require chains, and small-hours airport jobs are proposed with a margin. Nobody promises how many jobs there will be in a week in Ágreda or San Leonardo: what there is is a price known before you set off and a demand that runs by area and by month.
How do you do the sums: fixed costs, empty kilometres and hours covered?
There are three variables, and none is borrowed from another province. First, what the car costs per year even when parked: the authorisation, insurance covering passengers, the roadworthiness test, the vehicle's depreciation or finance payment, the self-employed contribution, the accountant and the phone; that sum is spread over the hours or kilometres you will really cover. Second, what each kilometre driven costs, fuel, tyres and maintenance, which in Soria weighs more than in small provinces because jobs are long and mountain roads wear a car down. Third, and this is what counts most here, the empty kilometre: a Barajas run from Soria is 220 km with a customer and as many again back without one, unless a round trip is booked or another job turns up in Madrid; a hospital run from Ágreda is 53 km with the wait in the middle and the return with the same customer.
The hours covered close the sums: airports concentrate in the small hours and late evening, the hospital in the morning, the Moncayo industrial estates at shift changes, the stations at the time of the few trains, the fiestas at night and tourism mid-morning with waiting; a driver from Almazán covering Medinaceli and the A-2 does not have the same map of hours as one from Ágreda covering Zaragoza and the shifts, or one from the capital living off the hospital, the station and Barajas. With the fixed costs, the cost per kilometre, the foreseeable empty kilometres of the chosen corridor and the hours you will cover, the sums work themselves out, and the simulator on the drivers page does them with the published conditions and the current commission. The knowledge centre piece on the cost per kilometre explains what lies behind a fare; neither of them promises a result.
How does a job reach your phone, what is bidding, and what are the rules?
It all starts with the customer, who books on the website or in the app with pickup, destination, date and time and accepts a fixed price; that job reaches the driver app with the details and the amount, and you accept or decline. There is also an option designed for provinces like this one: the partner driver can bid for the jobs nobody covers in their area. The platform shows the open jobs in the comarca and the driver proposes a price, with no obligation and without anyone promising how many there will be; with the villages so far apart, it is the way a job from Arcos de Jalón or Duruelo finds someone to do it. Once accepted, the app navigates to the pickup, records the trip states and generates the trip sheet before departure. Payment, late cancellation and waiting are governed by what is published on the drivers page and the help page, not by this guide.
The province's rules: at Soria and Medinaceli stations, at the bus station and at Barajas the pickup is always a customer with a booking, with their train or flight on the job, and the app follows delays; you cannot wait at the taxi rank or offer the car to people getting off. During San Juan the centre of Soria is closed and the job carries the pickup point the city council allows. In winter, Piqueras towards Logroño, Santa Inés towards the Laguna Negra and the Medinaceli plateau call for a margin: the driver confirms the day before, brings the departure forward if there is ice or fog and, if a road is closed, tells the customer through the app rather than missing the pickup. At the Laguna Negra, in high season, the drop-off point is the one the Junta's regulation allows, and the driver agrees it with the customer before setting off.
What legal framework applies: Royal Decree-Law 13/2018, the regional government and trips to Madrid, Zaragoza and Logroño?
The framework is the same across Spain and has two floors. The upper one is national: the Land Transport Act and its regulation, the ROTT, govern the VTC authorisation, and Royal Decree-Law 13/2018 left that authorisation valid for interurban services and handed urban services to each autonomous region, which decides whether to regulate them and on what terms. The lower one, in Soria, is the Junta de Castilla y León, responsible for interurban transport and for regulating urban VTC services, which publishes the requirements on its transport portal; town councils may add by-laws of their own. What no region changes is pre-booking: every job is contracted before it starts, carries a trip sheet and is filed with the Ministry of Transport's services register, and the platform generates both with every booking.
Soria borders four regions, and that matters. Jobs ending in Madrid, Zaragoza, Logroño or Pamplona are legal under a Castilla y León authorisation because the origin is in the province; the return from Barajas or from Zaragoza with a customer heading home has its origin outside the region and counts towards the share of services outside the authorisation's territory that the ROTT allows, so it pays to keep count and not station the car to pick up work in Madrid, Aragón or La Rioja. To work you need a valid driving licence, the authorisation in the holder's name, insurance covering passengers, the roadworthiness test and the registration document, all checked before the first job. The knowledge centre pieces on national and regional regulation explain the detail; the application is sent from the drivers page, stating the comarca and whether you bring a vehicle.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the commission and the payment conditions?
On the drivers page, with the simulator that does the sums with your fixed costs, your kilometres and your comarca. This guide explains the method and Soria's variables; it publishes no figure for earnings, jobs or commission, because they change and the current ones are there.
Can you pick someone up at Medinaceli station or Barajas without a booking?
No. A VTC only performs pre-booked services; at the stations and the airport the pickup is a customer with a booking and their train or flight on the job. Waiting at the taxi rank or soliciting on the platform or in arrivals is prohibited.
What is bidding for uncovered jobs?
An option for the partner driver: the platform shows the jobs in their area that nobody has accepted and the driver proposes a price to do them. It is not compulsory, it does not replace assigned jobs and it does not promise that there will be open jobs every week.
How much is Soria to Barajas, the capital's typical long job?
220 km and about 148 min along the A-15 and the A-2 without traffic, from 269,36 € according to the route engine; it is the price the customer sees. The return without a customer is the variable that weighs most in this corridor's sums.
Can I work from Ágreda towards Zaragoza and from Soria towards Logroño with a Castilla y León authorisation?
Yes, as long as the job's origin is in the province; Soria to Logroño is 101 km over Piqueras. Pickups in Zaragoza or Logroño to come back have their origin outside the region and fall within the share the ROTT allows, so it pays to keep count and not station the car to pick up work outside.
Sources
- Ministerio de Transportes · arrendamiento de vehículos con conductor (VTC): normativa y Registro de Comunicaciones (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- BOE · Real Decreto-ley 13/2018 y Reglamento de la Ley de Ordenación de los Transportes Terrestres (ROTT) (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Junta de Castilla y León · transporte de viajeros y arrendamiento de vehículos con conductor (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Adif · estaciones de Soria y de Medinaceli (consulted on 27 October 2026)
How we write, where the figures come from and how we correct an error: editorial policy.
The commission, payment conditions, waiting time and cancellation policy are those published on the drivers page and the help page on the date consulted; the regulations cited are those in force on that date and the regional government may change the rules for urban services. Distances and times are those of the route engine in daytime with no incidents. None of this promises a volume of jobs or earnings.