Morocco’s Taxi Industry Struggles: Drivers Blame Licensing System for Aging Fleet

According to l’Économiste, the living conditions of drivers in Morocco leave much to be desired. Relying on the reforms and unfulfilled promises of the government, the newspaper presents a gloomy picture of this category of urban transport players.

At the national level, 4 MMDH have been allocated to the sector, the media reports, adding that with this kitty, only 54% of the fleet has been renewed, with 85% of the new vehicles just in the Casablanca-Settat region. A percentage that is explained by the limits of the purchasing power of users, as well as the existence of alternatives such as buses and tramways.

On this subject, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) indicated that "the majority of trips in the most populous region of Morocco (20% of the population), with the highest GDP (30%), are made on foot (about 62%), the share of public transport (buses and tramways) is 12%, it is close to 13% for private cars and 9% for taxis".

As a result, the council proposed the establishment of an integrated sustainable mobility system which will, among other objectives, improve accessibility for all citizens to sustainable public transport and develop sustainable rural infrastructure, thus limiting dependence on private vehicles and reducing spatial and social divides, and also reform the taxi governance system, by professionalizing it and studying its possible liberalization.

Furthermore, the CESE denounces in its report the vagueness surrounding the status of the licenses of deceased persons. "The system for granting licenses lacks transparency, not to mention the practice of unofficial transfer of the right of enjoyment between people which prevents the identification of the true holder," it points out.