Territoires des taxis-motos à Lomé : de la pratique quotidienne à la recomposition des espaces urbains et des liens sociaux

Facing the urban sprawl and the absence of public transport, the motorcycle taxis have developed in Lome over the last twenty years and play today a significant role in the urban transport. The aim of this article is not to make a geographical analysis of urban mobility but rather to describe the daily territories of motorcycle taxi drivers and to bring a sociological lighting on the recombining of the social bonds induced by this new urban transport system. Based on three logics of localizations of the motorcycle parks that have recomposed the urban space, we show how the various corporations and the trade association are daily places of socialization between drivers of the motorcycle taxis. If the social practices between the drivers and the users are convivial, the relations between drivers and the public agents are more conflictual, because of the policemen and the taxmen who track them. As they circulate in all the districts and transport many people, the taxi-motor bikes drivers are seen as good vectors of information and are often requested by the international associations, institutions and especially the political parties participate in various caravans, public awareness campaigns and election campaigns.