Taxis, louages and rural transport to strike on 13 July as UTICA loses patience with fare stalemate

Tunisia's unregulated passenger transport sector has called a general strike for Monday 13 July 2026, running from 05:00 to 21:00, after its employers' federation said the government had failed for a third time to honour written commitments on fare increases and regulatory reform.

The sector covered by the action includes individual taxis, shared taxis, tourist taxis, louages — the inter-city shared vehicles that serve as the backbone of intercity travel for millions of Tunisians — and rural transport vehicles.

The decision was taken on 30 June 2026 at a meeting of the presidents of the national trade chambers of the sector, held at the headquarters of the Tunisian Union of Industry, Commerce and Crafts (UTICA), under the chairmanship of the first vice-president of the National Transport Federation (FNT), which operates under UTICA's umbrella.

In a communiqué published on Friday 3 July, the FNT said the strike was a response to what it described as a policy of delay and non-fulfilment of commitments by the supervisory authority, and the absence of solutions to the sector's outstanding files. UTICA called on operators to leave their vehicles at home for the duration of the strike to avoid any tension or attempts to disturb public order.

A broken truce

This is not the sector's first attempt at industrial action this year. A general strike originally set for 27 April 2026 was suspended at the last minute after the UTICA president and the FNT president intervened with the authorities.

That suspension rested on explicit written commitments: the administration undertook to examine outstanding files before 31 August 2026, and specifically to settle the fare-revision question — in consultation with professionals — during the month of June 2026. An earlier fare increase had already been promised by the end of March 2026, following minutes agreed on 22 January 2026.

June has now passed without action, the FNT said. UTICA said the commitments made in the spring had not been honoured, leaving the authorities a matter of days to defuse the dispute before 13 July.

What operators are demanding

The fare revision remains the central grievance: operators say rising fuel, spare-parts and vehicle costs have made current fixed rates economically unviable, and that they are simply asking for a written agreement to be applied.

Beyond tariffs, the sector is pressing for the full implementation of the 22 January 2026 minutes; finalisation of legal texts related to the regulatory framework governing the sector; a clear regulatory structure for transport stations; and rules covering transport applications, whose operators, the FNT argues, currently function in a legal grey area.

What this means for travellers

A full sixteen-hour stoppage on a Monday in mid-July — peak summer travel season — would leave commuters, tourists and intercity travellers without the shared and individual taxi services that supplement, and in many areas substitute for, Tunisia's formal bus and rail network.

During a comparable UGTT-led transport stoppage in July 2025, metro stations in Tunis stood empty and buses halted, forcing commuters onto private cars and unlicensed alternatives. The 13 July action covers a different sector — unregulated rather than state-run transport — but the practical effect on intercity and urban mobility would be similarly acute.

The Ministry of Transport had not published any response to the 13 July strike call at the time of writing. Times of Tunis will update this article if a statement is issued.