Yaoundé’s taxi crackdown begins: no QR code, no street 🚕🇨🇲

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After three months of registration, the Yaoundé Urban Community (CUY), the city authority for Cameroon’s capital, has moved to the enforcement phase for taxis. The digital identification drive opened on July 3 and was due to close on October 5. It relies on a dedicated platform and a QR code assigned to each registered vehicle. Since October 6, the rules have changed: taxis that are unregistered, or that lack the required identifier, now risk impoundment. On October 7, several vehicles were taken to municipal impound lots.

A QR code to identify the city’s taxis 📲

The move targets a well-known problem in urban transport. Vehicles with irregular paperwork, fake door numbers and drivers who are hard to identify make the fleet difficult to monitor.

Through this operation, the CUY wants to build a database that tracks vehicles, drivers and any incidents.

The QR code is the visible part of the system. It is meant to link each registered vehicle to the information held in the city’s platform.

20,000+ taxis registered before the deadline 📊

The registration numbers raise questions, though. On the eve of the deadline, more than 20,000 vehicles had been registered, according to Cameroon Tribune, while the CUY put the fleet at over 30,000 taxis.

In other words, a sizeable part of the fleet was still outside the system when enforcement began.

So the question is no longer just whether the QR code makes sense. It is also about supporting the drivers who haven’t yet joined. Turning a registration drive into a punitive regime quickly may boost compliance, but it could also penalize drivers who reportedly faced administrative or technical hurdles.

A QR code won’t be enough 🔐

Digital identification only works if the recorded data stays accurate and up to date.

A QR code alone won’t make passengers safer. Records will need regular updates, checks will need to stay reliable, and passenger complaints will need to lead to real action.

The technology is a traceability tool. How well it works will depend on how the collected data is used and on the follow-up by the authorities in charge.

Disrupted transport ⏳

For now, the crackdown is weighing on taxi availability in the capital. Since October 6, cabs have become scarcer on several Yaoundé streets. At rush hour, particularly before 8 a.m. and after 4 p.m., commuters pile up at pickup points. For some residents, the wait is becoming painfully long.

Beyond the impounded vehicles, some drivers who are not in compliance are staying off the road to avoid penalties. Others are reportedly shifting to the city’s outskirts to keep earning.

This drop in supply is said to benefit unlicensed operators and moto-taxis, in the neighborhoods where they are allowed to run. Some are reportedly raising their usual fares to meet demand. An operation designed to improve identification and traceability is, for now, visibly reshaping urban transport supply.

Success will be measured over the long term 🏙️

Digitizing the taxi sector is an important step in modernizing urban transport in Yaoundé. But its success won’t be judged only by how many vehicles are registered or impounded.

It will depend mostly on whether the city can use the data it collects to track taxis, identify drivers and respond to incidents reported by passengers.

The real test is whether digital tools end up delivering safer, more professional transport, without the transition penalizing drivers and commuters for the long haul.

Can digital ID really make taxis in Yaoundé safer and better? Tell us what you think in the comments.