A calibrated push for formalisation
When Director General of Land Transport Mopaya Atali stepped before the press on 14 October 2025, the message was crisp: the Republic of Congo is not curbing the motorcycle-taxi boom, it is channelling it. Backed by Transport Minister Olga Ingrid Ebouka Babackas, the administration has opted for regulation rather than prohibition, seeking to transform a once informal arena into a traceable, professional public-service branch.
Atali framed the initiative as a safety-driven exercise that would simultaneously strengthen administrative oversight. By anchoring taxi-moto activity in a clearer legal regime, authorities intend to save lives, reduce disorder and offer operators a recognised economic niche. The statement implicitly echoed the government’s broader commitment to modernise mobility while protecting livelihoods in a sector that has become vital for urban and peri-urban travel.
New grey cards and plates explained
Central to the reform is the roll-out of a bespoke vehicle registration package. All motorcycles offering passenger or freight services must obtain a newly designed carte grise and a distinctive licence plate marked TAXI followed by a three-digit code and the departmental letter-number pairing. As Atali illustrated, once the owner completes the grey-card procedure a receipt immediately assigns that TAXI identifier, providing on-the-spot traceability.
The documentation folder remains straightforward: the purchase invoice, a recognised identity document and a category A driving licence. Officials believe the visual singularity of the plate, combined with the database behind each serial number, will shorten police checks, simplify insurance verification and discourage illicit duplication of vehicles or routes.
Groupement licences and compliance window
Beyond individual registration, the government is rewriting the industry’s corporate architecture. Only economic interest groups possessing an accreditation from the Minister of Transport may run taxi-moto fleets. This stipulation, Atali insisted, responds to years of atomised competition that left room for clandestine operators and hindered collective responsibility for accidents or tax obligations.
Existing groupements – or those wishing to emerge – have until 30 October 2025 to visit the Directorate-General of Land Transport and regularise their files. The short calendar is deliberate: authorities want a consolidated list of accountable entities before end-year budget planning. According to the DGTT, failure to comply after the deadline could jeopardise the renewal of operating rights, though the sector itself remains fully authorised.
Training reboot ahead of December examinations
The second pillar of the overhaul addresses human capital. Nationwide theoretical and practical driving tests will take place in December 2025, but dossiers will be accepted solely from accredited auto-schools, moto-schools and approved training centres. Free-candidates, once common in rural departments, are no longer admissible.
Atali encouraged aspiring riders to enrol promptly, arguing that structured pedagogy is the surest route to public trust. Centres operating without ministerial recognition must transfer their students to authorised institutions. By linking professional credentials to vetted curricula, the ministry hopes to instil defensive-driving reflexes and foster a culture of compliance that transcends the mere possession of a licence.
À retenir
Taxi-motos continue to circulate legally across Congo-Brazzaville; what changes is the framework. Dedicated TAXI plates, new grey cards, compulsory groupement accreditation and December’s licence exams constitute the four keystones of the 2025 package. Riders and owners who anticipate the administrative steps can, in Atali’s words, “secure their livelihoods while contributing to safer roads”.
Le point juridique/éco
The reform clarifies that transport of persons or goods by motorcycle is governed by a decree conferring official status on the profession. By tethering commercial exploitation to groupements d’intérêt économique, the ministry seeks to enlarge the tax base and facilitate collective insurance schemes. Simultaneously, the specialised plate system operates as a low-cost digital identity, allowing enforcement bodies to match infractions or accidents with a registered operator in real time. For a government attentive to fiscal discipline and public safety, the initiative constitutes a calculated investment: modest paperwork upfront, potentially sizable dividends in order, revenue and human security.
