Motorcycle taxi service in the city of Nampula(MZ):brief profile of operators and activity

Abstract

This article is the result of a descriptive, qualitative and quantitative field research carried out in the city of Nampula, between June and July 2022, involving 97 motorcycle taxi service operators, chosen at random, in all Administrative Posts of the City. Data collection was carried out using the digital tool Google Forms of the Google Workspace system, which automatically processed the data. The objective of the study was to elaborate the profile of the motorcycle taxi service operators in the city. We found that the profile of moto taxi operators in the city of Nampula, the dynamics of the operation of the services itself, is strongly similar to what is reported in the literature reviewed and presented in this article, in relation to the cases of Brazil and Africa. This service is provided predominantly by male operators, between 21-30 years old, married, heads of households with 5-6 members, born in Nampula, with basic and medium secondary schooling. In many marginalized cases, reality insists on demonstrating that this service is part of the transport systems that, in fact, operate in cities. Therefore, motorcycle taxi operators are part of a social group with similar biometric characteristics, influenced by similar factors, but operating and exposed to different possibilities of political and legal recognition, regulation, improvement and inspection.