The public local and long-distance transport system in Tunisia consists of bus, rail, collective taxis and individual taxis.


All Taxis in Tunisia have a yellow color and a sign with a number on the roof. Thery are almost always limousines, mostly compact size, but you also can find small taxi buses with 4 seats, which also can carry larger luggage.

All taxis are fitted with taxi meters that must be turned on during a trip. At night (from about 21:00 clock), an approximately 50% higher rate will be applied.

Taxi driving is, for westerners, in Tunisia quite inexpensive. Taxi drivers will often, specifically in the tourist areas try to achieve higher fares by suggesting to pay a fixed fee (which is almost always higher than the normal price), by applying the nighttime fare in the day, or by asking for special fees (eg. extra payment for luggage).

A passenger should, therefore, always insist that the meter is being turned on and refuse fixed prices and payment for additional unjustified services.
Since some drivers will then deny the transport, a passenger might need to either ask another driver or, especially in tourist areas and much recommended by the author, not pick a standing (waiting in a taxi stop) taxi, but a taxi that drives empty (unoccupied) along the street.

Almost every native knows the taxi fares for most distances, so it is useful to ask someone about the regular prices to the destination (small differences may occur due to technical reasons or traffic conditions).

Most taxi drivers will only speak arabic and french, in the tourist areas, some will also speak some broken english or german.

If you have found a taxi driver that you are comfortable with, ask for his telephone number and you can then call him for more rides.

In Tunisia, when women take a taxi alone, they will usually ride in the back of the taxi to prevent the driver from getting "strange ideas".

Collective taxis are minibuses with 8 or 9 seats, or compact cars with 5 seats. Louages that go from one town to another are usually painted in white color with a red stripe on the flanks of the car.

In some cities, there are also collective taxis with differently colored stripes - mostly for  urban routes and, as well, yellow cars with blue side stripes (as opposed to normal individual yellow taxis, which have no side strips).

Collective taxis are driving more or less fixed routes. They are waiting in the main stations/stops ("Station de Louages"), until all or at least most seats are occupied and will then proceed along a fixed route. The passengers can get on and off at any time and will pay the driver for the ride before leaving the car (sometimes, in the large stations, even ahead of departure). Fares should be paid in change, since the drivers usually cannot exchange banknotes.

The fares are fixed and very low, but sometimes drivers will demand higher fares from tourists, which can be prevented by asking other passengers about the fee in advance.

It is also possible to completely "rent" a Louage, by paying for all the seats in the car and then drive, so to say, along the route as a "private taxi". Likewise, one can also pay for unoccupied seats to prevent the driver from waiting until the car has filled up completely.

Louages are known in many countries of the world, but have in each one another name, for example:

- Circulator, jitney, shuttle service (USA)
- Demand Responsive Transport (UK)
- Marshrutka (маршрутка, Russia)
- Songthaew (สองแถว, Thailand)
- Carros públicos (Puerto Rico)
- Deeltaxi (Netherlands)
- Sammeltaxi (Germany)
- Matatu (Kenya)
- Taxi collettivo (Italy)
- Monit Sherut (,מוֹנִית שֵׂרוּת, Israel)
- Public light bus (Hong Kong )
- Mashrou' (مشروع, Egypt)
- Jitney (Canada)
- Taxi collectif (Canada, Algeria)
- Táxi-lotação (Brazil

Autobus

Trains / Railway