In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, a high-stakes inter-institutional working meeting focused on overhauling motorcycle taxi regulation was convened this week, led by Minister of the Interior and Police Faride Raful. The gathering brought together top leadership from the General Directorate of Traffic and Land Transportation Security (DIGESETT), headed by General Pascual Cruz Méndez, municipal delegates from across the Greater Santo Domingo region, and representatives from five key government bodies to finalize a coordinated strategy for regulating informal motorcycle taxi operations. This initiative forms a core pillar of the national government’s broader push to strengthen citizen safety and bring better organization to chaotic urban transport networks.
The session built on preliminary negotiations held at the Ministry of the Interior and Police on May 26, uniting stakeholders from the National Police, the National Institute of Transit (INTRANT), DIGESETT, the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), and the General Directorate of Migration. Senior officials stressed during the meeting that fragmented, uncoordinated enforcement has long undermined efforts to rein in unregulated motorcycle taxi activity, making cross-agency collaboration non-negotiable for meaningful reform.
Under the proposed regulatory framework, local municipal governments will take on key on-the-ground responsibilities: managing existing bus and motorcycle taxi stop infrastructure, approving land use permits for new operating zones, and maintaining a public registry of all authorized service areas. To streamline monitoring and quickly identify authorized operators, the plan requires all registered motorcycle taxi drivers to wear province-specific color-coded identification vests that will be visible at all times during operations.
Additional eligibility requirements will raise standards for anyone seeking to operate legally: all drivers must hold a valid, unrestricted Dominican driver’s license and pass a criminal background check to prove they have no recent or relevant convictions. Officials also announced plans to develop a tiered classification system for all designated motorcycle taxi stands, which will be used to evaluate applications for new stops based on local traffic capacity, pedestrian safety, and community need. The overarching objectives of these reforms are to reduce chronic traffic congestion in Greater Santo Domingo’s densely populated urban corridors and improve overall safety for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians sharing city streets.
Municipal delegates from four key jurisdictions — Santo Domingo Oeste, the National District, Santo Domingo Norte, and Santo Domingo Este — joined technical working groups from INTRANT and DIGESETT to refine the plan during the meeting. By the close of discussions, all participating stakeholders reaffirmed that sustained inter-agency coordination will be critical to rolling out the reforms successfully. Officials framed the project as a foundational step toward building a more transparent, organized, and secure public transportation system that advances both public order and national crime prevention goals.