Zémidjan

zémidjan The zémidjans called also zem are motor bike-taxis which one hitherto found only with Cotonou (Bénin) are from now on present at Lome (Togo) since the unlimited general strike of November 1992 in August 1993, sounding the end of the taxis (4 wheels) Togolese.

Zémidjan means literally quickly takes along to me or " take to me brusquement" in Fon, language of the south of the Benign one. They are very appreciated by the population, because they fill the gaps of public transport. For a few hundreds of CFA franc (a few tens of centimes of euro), they take along their customers, independently of the state of the roads and the hour of the day or the night, in any corner of the city, where the traditional taxis cannot always go.

The 80.000 zémidjans of Cotonou are seen regularly marked to be at the origin of the pollution of the city. According to the Department of the Environment, it is emitted each day with Benign the 83 tons of carbon monoxide, including 49 tons emitted by the two-wheeled vehicles.

Gasoline of smuggling, the " Kpayo ", is there for something: from 15% to 30% less expensive than the fuel with the pump, it is also much more pollutant.

The risks which the taxi-motor bikes run and make run to the population are often more direct: they are also the cause of many road accidents, 15 to 20 per day in 2003 in the only town of Cotonou.

One finds also this system of Mobylettes/taxis with Lome, with the Togo. They are more commonly call " oléya" what means in undermined " one goes there? ".

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