VTC fleets in Palencia: the high-speed station, the Venta de Baños junction, Valladolid half an hour away and the Montaña; how jobs are shared between the cars and how the fleet gets paid

Where should the cars be in a long province like Palencia?

In the south, above all, with one car looking north if the fleet wants to cover the Montaña. Palencia stretches from south to north and almost everything that generates jobs is at the bottom: the capital, with the high-speed station on the Madrid to León line and the head of the line to Santander, the Río Carrión hospital and the cathedral; El Cerrato, with Venta de Baños, a historic railway junction, Villamuriel de Cerrato and its car plant, and Dueñas beside the A-62; and Valladolid half an hour away, with Campo Grande and Villanubla. Tierra de Campos, with Carrión de los Condes and Paredes de Nava, is served from the capital with a margin, and the Camino de Santiago adds pickups at hostels from spring to autumn. The Montaña Palentina is another story: Aguilar de Campoo and Guardo are an hour away, look to Santander along the A-67 and have snow in winter, so a car there is only justified if the fleet wants the northern connections with the station and the trips to Cantabria.

The reference figures are the route engine's, the same ones the customer sees before paying and on which the commission is calculated. The typical long job is Palencia to Barajas, 235 km along the A-62 and the A-6, about 181 min and from 292,40 €. The short corridor is Valladolid: Venta de Baños to Campo Grande, 41 km, for anyone who cannot find a train in Palencia. The medium connections from the north: Aguilar de Campoo to Palencia station, 95 km with a train time, and Guardo to the Río Carrión hospital, 96 km, almost always with a wait and a return. And the trip to the sea from the Montaña: Aguilar to Santander, 104 km along the A-67. In Palencia a fleet lives on repeated medium connections more than on long ones; the Barajas run leaves the most kilometres, but with an empty return if nobody has booked the way back.

How does a job enter the fleet's portal, and how is it shared between the cars?

The customer books on the web, in the app or by phone with origin, destination, date and time, sees a fixed price before confirming and pays; the job enters the zone's queue and the fleet sees it in its portal with the amount it will be paid. From there it accepts it for one of its cars and assigns it to a specific driver, or leaves it for the first free driver of its own to take: each driver signs in to the app with their own credentials, sees only their own jobs and carries the navigation, the trip states and the trip sheet, which is generated before departure together with the filing with the national services register naming the assigned car and driver. A job can be turned down without penalty and there is no exclusivity: a Venta de Baños fleet can keep its usual customers and take from the platform whatever suits it.

In a Palencia fleet's portal, notice and the calendar carry weight. The early-morning Barajas runs and the summer Santander trips are booked days ahead and let you decide the night before which car sleeps in Aguilar and which in the capital; the connections with Palencia station and with Campo Grande carry the train number and the app follows delays, so the pickup moves by itself if the train is late. The rules are not negotiable: the pickup at the station, at Villanubla or at Barajas is always a customer with a booking, never someone stepping off the platform, because the service is pre-booked, and the fixed price is what is charged, with no on-board surcharges. During San Antolín, in early September, and Holy Week the centre is closed and the job carries the pickup point the town hall allows; in winter, Montaña jobs are confirmed the day before and, if the A-67 or the CL-615 turn difficult, departure is brought forward or the customer is told in the app.

How does the fleet get paid: card at booking, Stripe Connect and the commission invoice?

The customer pays by card when booking, on board if so agreed, or by bank transfer if it is a company on monthly invoicing. With card payment the amount lands directly in the fleet's Stripe Connect account, not the platform's, and the commission published on the fleets page is split out within the same charge; from the Stripe account to the fleet's bank the money moves on the schedule the fleet itself sets, daily, weekly or monthly. There is no middle step where the money sits waiting for someone to transfer it, no joining fee, no monthly charge and no minimum: a month with no jobs costs nothing. Cash collected on board belongs to the fleet and is deducted at the next reconciliation, and non-payment is not the fleet's risk, because the job performed is settled even if the customer does not show and late cancellations are paid under the published policy.

Every fortnight, on the closing days the fleets page publishes, the statement arrives with every job, its amount, the commission withheld and the net, together with the platform's commission invoice to the fleet: numbered, with its base and its VAT, deductible, ready for the accountant. No discounts without paperwork. In the portal the fleet can see at any time its assigned jobs, where each payment stands, its statements and its invoices, without asking by email. The price of a job follows one of three paths, which the fleets page explains with its figures: working on the house fare, which carries a lower commission; declaring its own fare and having it approved, with the published commission; or, with bidding switched on, leaving a pricing rule for the fleet's drivers. Commission figures are not written in this guide because they change and the current ones are published there.

What is bidding for uncovered jobs, and when is it worth switching on in Palencia?

An option, not an obligation. With bidding switched on, the fleet leaves a pricing rule for its cars in its portal, with base, target and floor per concept, standing or by days and hours, and fine-tunes it per driver if needed, within the published limits and with the recommended value beside each box. While its drivers are online in the app, the customer sees them as one more option beside the house fare, at that price fixed before accepting, as pre-booking requires, and chooses the car that arrives first, the cheapest or the balance; the fleet is paid the awarded amount with the usual commission. A bid only counts while the driver is online, and if whoever had accepted a job cannot do it in the end, the customer's price is untouched: the difference comes out of the platform's commission, not the fleet's or the customer's.

In Palencia it fits where the job exists but nobody covers it at that hour: an early-morning pickup in Guardo for the first train, a pilgrim leaving the Camino at Carrión de los Condes who needs the station, a visit to La Olmeda from Saldaña with a wait, 10 km each way, or a Sunday return from the Montaña. The portal shows the open jobs in the district and the fleet's rule decides at what price each car is offered; nobody promises how many there will be in a January week in Aguilar. Without a rule, the fleet works on the house fare or its own, as before, and the jobs assigned through the zone's queue keep arriving just the same. For a fleet of two or three cars the sensible thing is to start with airport transfers, which are the most predictable, and switch bidding on when the portal really shows uncovered jobs in its area.

What does the fleet software do, and what paperwork does joining require?

The fleet-management software keeps what a fleet of kilometres needs to hand: the expiry dates of roadworthiness tests, insurance, authorisation, transport card and drivers' licences, with a warning before anything lapses; the expenses per vehicle, fuel, tyres, maintenance, the AP-6 tolls when the Barajas run goes via Segovia and parking; claims; the income from every platform the fleet works with, not only this one; and the split with each driver according to their agreement. It produces the month's result per car, which is the figure that decides whether the Aguilar car pays off or whether it is better kept in Venta de Baños. It is included for partner fleets and for those in the partners network; a fleet that does not work with the platform can subscribe on its own, by the month. Separate from it is the platform as a tool, for a fee per licence per month and with no commission, which is not on sale yet and which the fleet software page describes.

Joining requires valid VTC authorisations in the fleet's name, the vehicle records with roadworthiness test and registration document, passenger-cover insurance, the certificate of good standing with the tax agency and social security, and a company bank account for Stripe Connect verification. The steps go in this order: an application from the fleets page with company name, tax ID, number of licences and area; paperwork and a signed agreement with the split and the scope; Stripe Connect onboarding from the fleet's own record, which is what decides when it can start collecting; drivers and vehicles added to the app with their expiry dates; and first jobs. Trips ending in Madrid or Santander are legal under a Castilla y León authorisation because the origin is in the province; what does not fit is stationing cars to pick up jobs originating there beyond the share the ROTT allows.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Ministerio de Transportes · arrendamiento de vehículos con conductor (VTC): autorizaciones y Registro de Comunicaciones (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• BOE · Real Decreto-ley 13/2018, por el que se modifica la LOTT en materia de arrendamiento de vehículos con conductor (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Adif · estaciones y servicios al viajero (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Junta de Castilla y León · transporte: autorizaciones y normativa autonómica (consulted on 27 October 2026)