Why are buses minibuses taxis and fula-fula trucks often overcrowded in Kinshasa?

In Kinshasa, public transportation—including buses, minibuses, taxis, and fula-fula trucks—is grossly overcrowded primarily due to an inadequate transportation system struggling to keep pace with the city's dense and rapidly increasing population.1

This situation is exacerbated by several systemic economic challenges:

• Economic Hardship: The city has faced severe economic difficulties, which have limited the availability of resources for maintaining and expanding public transit infrastructure.12
• Shortage of Equipment: A lack of foreign exchange has led to a persistent shortage of spare parts and replacement vehicles, resulting in the deterioration of the existing fleet.1
• High Demand: As the city’s population has grown, the demand for transit has consistently outstripped the capacity of the available vehicles, forcing the use of adapted trucks (fula-fula) to accommodate the volume of passengers.1

While Kinshasa is well-served by roads, these factors collectively prevent the transportation network from functioning efficiently, leading to the chronic overcrowding observed in the city's public transportation system.1