Maximizing transport

Taxi vans on Kinshasa's streets have been modified to carry the greatest number of passengers and their packages as possible. Bench seats are removed and replaced with wooden seats which can hold four people. With 4-6 benches in a vehicle and three people on the front seat, some of these taxis carry up to 27 people (depending on the taxi's length and the passengers' parcels).



Trucks transport bags of goods from outlying areas into the city and large loads within it.



Motorcycles and bicycles provide easy access and less expensive transportation, especially in the villages (suburbs), around the city.



On major streets people cross anywhere that is convenient to their route. The man with the bicycle and many people around him are watching for openings in the traffic to cross. This is a main street and an especially busy area for foot traffic. The regular two lanes each way have been expanded by drivers to accommodate three lanes of vehicles in each direction. This seems to be a common practice.



Nearly all the photos were taken from inside our vehicle at the scenes around us. Notice anything unusual about the truck driving in our lane? It decided to pass the line of traffic it was in and didn't seem to mind that we were driving there. Our driver just slowed and drove between the truck and the cars in the lane to our left.