Two major taxi types can be found in Morocco:
- petits taxi
- grands taxi
Video Taxicabs of Morocco
Inner city transportation
Moroccan cities have special taxis for transport within the city limits. Although some of the largest cities operate city buses, most people prefer to use petit taxis for point-to-point transportation within city limits.
Maps Taxicabs of Morocco
Regional transport
For trips to destinations outside the city limits you can choose between buses (public buses for nearby destinations and private "fancy" buses for long distance and even cross country) or so-called grand taxi .
Taxi Petits
A petit taxi is a smaller model car that is painted in a specified color, which is different from city to city. It has a maximum capacity of three passengers plus the driver. There are special stops for petit taxis, often combined with a big taxi stop, where these taxis are allowed to park and wait for customers. However, in many cases the customer will beckon or shout for a taxi when the blank passes.
Usually the customer hires a full taxi for his trip and pays the fare for the trip: it does not matter if someone is alone or with a party of up to three. When there is an empty seat, the driver may pick up another passenger if he sees potential customers for more or less the same route.
In most cities, drivers use some fixed rates for popular destinations depending on distance and time (more expensive late at night). Taxis in busy cities like Casablanca or Marrakech are generally more expensive than in a city like Nador.
To prevent abuse by the driver (mainly) foreign tourists, some cities require a small taxi to use the meter. In this case the rate depends on the distance traveled. After 9 pm the tariff is generally 50% higher. Tourist information brochures advise travelers to insist on using a meter or agree on a fixed price in advance.
Petits taxis are small cars like Fiat Uno, Peugeot 205 and similar-sized models use diesel as fuel. In general the cars used are quite old (mostly from the 1990s); often the interior is overhauled and/or damaged - at least compared to European standards. However some newer models, especially Dacia Logans (produced in Morocco) can be seen on a regular basis. To allow passengers to carry the luggage most cars are equipped with simple open wooden boxes on the roof where large items are placed without anything to secure them. Since speed within city limits is never high, this method does not cause many accidents.
The sides of the roof rack are also the places where the petit taxis are printed together with their local registration number.
Color
Some examples of colors used in the city of Morocco for taxis petits:
- Blue: Al Rachida, Rabat, Chefchaouen
- Light blue: Tanger (with horizontal yellow line), Meknes
- Red: Nador, Azilal, Casablanca, Fez, Oujda
- White: Ouarzazate, Taroudannt, El Jadida
- Ocher: Marrakech
- Orange: Berkane, Agadir
- Yellow: Midelt
- Light yellow: TÃÆ' Â © touan
- Green: Azrou, Aklim, Ifrane
- Light green: Mohammedia
Grands Taxis
Whereas petits taxis are only for local city traffic, grands taxis are mostly used for city-to-town transportation or -village. Usually a big taxi is a shared vehicle: in the main taxi there are many taxis collected. This is a type of stock cab system but without a government schedule or influence. Each taxi will drive a more or less fixed route to a defined destination and all passengers looking for transportation to that destination or somewhere along the route used share one big taxi. When the taxi is full (maximum 4 passengers in the back seat and two in the front passenger seat) he will depart. He may leave early if it takes too long to wait for the full car and/or when he expects to take more passengers along the route.
Although this shared use is cheap, it is not always very convenient for longer trips in hot summers: 7 people (including drivers) packaged in the 1970s to 80s four-door Mercedes without air conditioning. Many people would rather hire a full taxi and agree on a fixed price before departure.
Grands taxi almost exclusively older Mercedes-Benz W123 sedan uses diesel fuel. In some very rare exceptions the Opel Senator functions as a big taxi. Grands taxis coming from the same region all have to paint their cars of the same color; quite often white, ocher or olive green. The colors of the taxis grands from one region are usually different from the color of the taxi petits of the same area; in Marrakech however, both are oker. The little red plaque in front and/or back shows their hometown and registration number.
Development of taxi transportation services
Beginning in 2014, Mustapha Chaoun, secretary-general of national unity of transportation professionals, said that "45,000 taxis throughout Morocco should be renovated." Chaoun added that this taxi should be renovated gradually because there are some administrative problems that need to be fixed first. Morocco decided to offer taxi owners a huge subsidy of 80,000 dirhams if they wanted to buy a new vehicle, In line with this government project, the Renault car company in Tangier reportedly said earlier that it would offer a discount of MAD10,000 for taxi drivers wanting to replace the old Mercedes Diesel 240 they are with the new Dacia Lodgy.
From the beginning of 2015, the Grand Taxis looks mainly updated by Dacia Lodgy, SsangYong Rodius (2nd gen), Mercedes Vito and 7 other van seats.
Resources and footnotes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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