LUSA 07/08/2025

Lusa - Business News - Mozambique: 'Paid ride' transport has saved business meetings, pregnant women

Maputo, July 7, 2025 (Lusa) - Over the past five years, the city of Maputo has seen an expansion in alternative means of public transport, such as “paid rides”, which have already helped everyone from businessmen to pregnant women in the Mozambican capital.

Parked at various points in Maputo, “paid rides” emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic, when restrictions were in place, and have remained.

“This initiative makes a big difference, as we have had cases here where we have even helped pregnant women (...), we have taken people from here to the hospital, since transport was not always available. We have taken businessmen, whom I cannot name, who were running late and got them to their appointments in a short time,” Eugénio Mathe, one of the drivers, told Lusa.

Mathe has been in the “square” for five years, with around 50 colleagues, and uses a Toyota Sienta, a seven-seater minivan, which offers an advantage due to the number of passengers it can carry.

Mathe, 41, decided to take up “paid rides” because of unemployment, to support his daughter and wife, transporting people between Praça dos Combatentes and Praça do Destacamento Feminino, a distance of just over four kilometres, charging 15 meticais (€0.20).

Mathe and his colleagues charge the lowest price, as they give priority to students from Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), the oldest public institution. At the same time, at other stops the fare is 20 meticais (€0.27).

And because the business is growing, they are setting up an association. Still, relations with the municipal authorities have not always been “friendly” because of the area where they work: Julius Nyerere Avenue, near the Mozambican Presidency.

“They have always followed us, claiming that this is a protocol road, (…) here we keep quiet: we park the cars, people come, they get in,” he said, adding that the group’s goal is to legalise the activity.

While they waited for this, on Tuesday, the municipal police blocked and towed the cars of the “paid rides” drivers, stating that the vehicles were restricted from parking along Julius Nyerere Avenue and that their ability to work was affected.

In protest, they refused to get out of their cars, and a police contingent arrived at the scene and fired tear gas to disperse the drivers.

Dércio Uamusse, 34, who lost his job in the pandemic, also operates in the same square in Eugénio Mathe.

Although Maputo has chronic public transportation problems, app-based taxis and even motorcycle taxis have recently emerged; however, Uamusse considers that he “feels good” in the business he has chosen.

“I’m saying we earn enough compared to others who do other jobs. Let’s say it’s the norm. So I feel good here,” he said, adding that hotel workers in the surrounding area benefit from his transport services.

Uamusse dreams that the “activity will be licensed,” and vehicle maintenance is a “Achilles heel.”

“Vehicle maintenance (…) is an Achilles heel. The car itself was designed for other activities. Nevertheless, we have managed. And yes, the cars are in great condition,” he reported.

Among the beneficiaries of these “paid rides” is Adélia Tinga, a final-year student of Spatial Planning and Development at the Pedagogical University (UP), located on Avenida de Moçambique, who views this as a means to address transportation limitations.

“These public rides help us a lot, because this road has no minibuses, and it’s also very fast,” said the student, moments before embarking on another trip to her educational institution.

A daily user of this means of transport, Adélia recognises the effectiveness of the “paid rides” and prefers alternative arrangements to the municipal police’s decision to withdraw them, calling for “innovative” ideas to address the transport shortage in that “square”.

Like Adélia, Marnélio Machaieie, a 25-year-old, uses the “paid rides” every day to get to work.

A cook, Marnélio relies on this transport to ensure he always arrives on time for work at one of the restaurants on Julius Nyerere Avenue.

“I always arrive on time for work, I always have transport waiting for me,” Machaieie told Lusa, explaining that before the “paid rides” started, he had to take multiple forms of transport to reach his destination, which was more expensive and involved long walks.

“We had to take another route. And I had to use this route from Compone [bus stop] and then get off at the corner and walk to work,” he explained.

For him, while Maputo works to expand transport options, keeping this means of transport ensures easy and comfortable travel for everyone who relies on it.

The transport sector in Mozambique has significant growth potential, particularly in public services, including road transport.

The transport crisis has led to the use of private open-bed vehicles, popularly known as ‘My Love’, given the physical proximity with which passengers travel in the cargo area and the need sometimes to hug each other to stay safe on the road.

RYR/ADB // ADB.

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