Editing Transport in Mauritius (section)

=== History ===
At the beginning of 1860, the transport of passengers and goods was undertaken by about 2,000 horses, 4,000 donkeys and 4,500 carriages and carts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nagapen|first=Amédée|title=Histoire de la Colonies: Isle de France – Ile Maurice (1721-1968)|year=2010|publisher=Editions de L'Océan Indien|isbn=978-99903-0-619-4|pages=92}}</ref> With the advent of the railways, and later of motorized transport, animal based transport systems declined on the island.

In January 1901, the first two-seater car, imported by ''Goupilles & Cies'', was disembarked. In October of that same year, the ''Union Regnard'' sugar estate (Now F.U.E.L) received the first motorized truck of British origin, capable of transporting up to 5 tons.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nagapen|first=Amédée|title=Histoire de la Colonie: Isle de France – Ile Maurice (1721-1968)|year=2010|publisher=Editions de pd Indien|isbn=978-99903-0-619-4|pages=121}}</ref>

In 1930, the island had 3,016 vehicles: around 2,401 private cars, 300 taxis, 303 trucks, 92 buses and 220 motorcycles. In 1950, vehicles numbered in the 5,161 and went up to 13,291 in 1960 with the decline of the railways. In 1970, the number of vehicles nearly doubled, going to 25,389 motorised vehicles. This included 12,546 cars, 4,171 trucks, 722 buses and 5,383 motorcycles.<ref name="AN2010-138" /> Public transport, in the form of buses, grew in line with the demographic and economic growth of the island; buses numbered 186 in 1950, 488 in 1960, 722 in 1970 and 1,490 in 1980.<ref name="AN2010-153-154" />

{{As of|2019}}, 580,629 vehicles were registered on the island. Of these, 299,998 were cars and dual-purpose vehicles (cars capable of carrying a certain load of goods), and 216,863 were motorcycles and autocycles (light motorcycles).<ref name="RoadTransportStats2018-19">{{cite book |title=Digest of Road Transport and Road Accident Statistics Year 2018-2019 |date=February 2021 |publisher=Statistics Mauritius |url=https://statsmauritius.govmu.org/Documents/Statistics/Digests/Transport/Digest_Transport_Yr18-19.xls |format=XLS}}</ref>