Rickshaws, tuk-tuks, bicycle taxis banned
Nairobi – Burundi banned rickshaws, motorcycle taxis, tuk-tuks and bicycle taxis from almost all of its biggest city Bujumbura yesterday, accusing the popular lowcost transport providers of causing fatal traffic accidents.
The ministry of interior announced yesterday the “new perimeter prohibiting access to tricycles, motorcycles and bicycle cabs in the centre of Bujumbura is well and truly in force from yesterday”.
Police were posted on roads leading into Bujumbura to enforce the ban, which confines two- and three-wheel transport providers to the very margins of the city.
Previously, the roughly 20 000 operators were permitted in all quarters of the city of 1.2 million, except for the very centre.
Last month, Interior Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca accused these drivers of being responsible for the majority of road accidents last year. About 1 300 people were killed on the roads and nearly 2 000 injured in that time.
The ban was supposed to take effect on 11 March, but was postponed to give drivers more time to prepare.
Two-wheel vehicles for private use were also banned from the same areas of the city.
More than 600 000 people are estimated to use two- and three-wheelers every day in Bujumbura, where affordable travel options are scarce.
Drivers of the taxis are mostly young men from rural areas with little other employment prospects and the ban is expected to hit them hard.
“These types of transport are used by a lot of people every day, but the bicycles also supply the city with milk, vegetables and coal and the rickshaws deliver products to markets and stalls,” said one economist who requested anonymity.
The decision would “have catastrophic consequences because it puts tens of thousands of drivers” out of work, the economist added.
Burundi is the poorest country in the world as measured by GDP per capita, at less than $240 (about R3 587) in 2020, according to the World Bank. –