Transportation leader backs motorcycle regulation plan, but warns that the State lacks the capacity to regulate the sector in the short term

Santiago.- The president of the National Central of Transport Workers (CNTT), Juan Marte, valued as positive the initiative of the Ministry of Interior and Police to organize and regulate the motorcycle sector in the Dominican Republic, although he warned that the State faces limitations of human and logistical resources to achieve effective results in the short and medium term. Marte highlighted that the universe of motorcyclists in the country exceeds three million people, a figure that makes the regulation process one of the biggest mobility and citizen security challenges facing the nation.

“Anyway, we applaud the initiative and hope to identify who they are and where the country's motorcyclists are,” said the union leader, referring to government efforts to register and organize those dedicated to motoconcho and delivery services.

However, he questioned that for years different sectors have tried to represent motorcyclists without providing real solutions to their needs. According to him, many of those groups have only seen motorcycle riders as a market for the sale of helmets, vests, or parking permits.

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The leader also pointed out that motorcyclists have often been used in political activities and that they represent an important source of tax revenue due to the high consumption of fuels taxed with taxes. Juan Marte took the opportunity to contrast the situation of motorcyclists with that of organized transportation, assuring that historically the State has handled imprecise figures on the number of drivers in the country. “It has always been said that there are 350,000 transporters, when in reality there are not even 150,000. Hopefully, the same thing will not happen with motorcyclists and it will be possible to clearly establish how many there are and where they operate,” he said. The statements by the president of the CNTT come at a time when the Government is pushing measures to strengthen the control, identification, and registration of motorcyclists, a sector that constitutes one of the main means of transportation and economic sustenance for thousands of Dominican families.