Moto Taxis Given 3 months To Install Payment App

The motorcycle riders used as transport across Rwanda commonly called ‘Moto Taxi’ have been given a deadline of three months to sign up for an App that will be used by clients to pay.

Cabinet on Wednesday adopted what was communicated in the resolutions as “Motorcycle Transport Strategy” for the sector that employs more than 80,000 members countrywide.

State Minister in charge of Transport Eng. Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye this Friday met with representative of associations of moto taxi riders.

He informed them that government has decided the sector has to be upgraded to use technology.

The moto taxis have been given until July 1, 2019, to join tech payment platforms. Each will be given a gadget to be installed on the motorcycle that calculates distance travelled and displays the price for the client.

Currently, there are two payment App services Yego Moto and Safe Moto owned by two different private companies. Joining these service Apps has been optional, reason why the companies had only a handful of members.

Motos that are members with these companies come with plenty of advantages for clients including security and safety as they have rarely been involved in accidents because they do no over-speed.

For the vast majority of Motos, they have maintained free-roaming system where the simply roam around looking for clients. The moto taxi and client can bargain on prices.

Police statistics show that the majority of road accidents are of moto taxis due to over-speeding and recklessness riding.

Explaining the rationale for the obliging all motos to join payment Apps, State Minister Uwihanganye said today that the technology will eliminate unnecessary wrangling between clients and motos.

Available data suggests that there are about 250 taxi moto associations in the country, that have thousands of individual members.

The industry is said to be generating more than Rwf 800 billion annually.