Motorbike riders are willing to go to the most isolated neighborhoods, where private cars or public transport buses cannot access.
The rapid expansion of motorbike taxi explains why riders from the first hours of the morning positioned in the different bus stations of Brazzaville, waiting for the arrival of the first clients.
It is the case with Alexis Ngampika. Positioned at 5:30 AM on his bike, this former economics student says he started working in the sector a couple of years ago.
Despite his academic background, he found it hard to find a job either in the public sector or in the private sector. He therefore opted for a motorbike and does not have any regret since he makes CFA10,000 francs a day. “With my daily income, I can put food on table and take care of my wife and my child, and sometimes my retired parents” he asserts.
However, between a drop off or pick up of one client in the isolated neighborhoods of Brazzaville, like Gamakosso or Le Domaine, the young man finds the time to continue to look for a more rewarding and less stressful job.
Unwilling to change his trade, his colleague Judicaël Bayakissa, about 30 years old, believes that driving a motorcycle taxi is “a job like any other one”.
Totally absorbed by his work, he reveals: “I seldom stop working before 9 PM and often make as much as CFAF16,000 per day. With that, I pay my rent and the school fees of my two children.”
As far as users are concerned, they rejoice of the fact “these motorcycle taxis are very useful because the neighborhood where I live is not served by cabs or buses especially during the rainy season.”
Eugene Kabi, a resident of an inaccessible neighborhood who works in downtown Brazzaville says it’s a chance for them to be able to pick the motor-taxis almost everywhere in Brazza.