Moto Taxi in Brazil: What the Rules Say Right Now

The same scene, two legal identities

This distinction is the whole guide, and almost nothing in English makes it.

Mototáxi — the occupation — has federal legislation of its own, covering rider and machine. Motorcycle transport through an app was treated as the same thing by several city halls, and the Supreme Court disagreed: it is private economic activity, which a municipality may regulate but may not prohibit or make unviable.

For a visitor the consequence is counter-intuitive. In São Paulo no platform is accredited to carry passengers by motorcycle, checked on September 16, 2026: 99 told the mayor on April 1, 2026 it would not apply, and Uber's accreditation — ordered by a lower court on July 21 — was withdrawn three days later, when the appeal court suspended that order. So the delivery motorcycles you see carry food, not people, and no app will offer that ride there.

The federal requirements are back, and the reason is a vote that never happened

Every guide in English lists the same two requirements for a moto taxi rider: 21 years old and a specialised Contran course. A provisional measure removed both in May 2026, along with the minimum two years of licence-holding — and all three came back on September 15, 2026, when it lapsed.

A provisional measure is law the day it is signed, but dies unless Congress converts it in sixty days, extendable once. This one used its extension; the extension act projected October 1, but the case file's own calendar ends deliberation on September 15, 2026, the day it marks as loss of effect. The joint committee never voted — the reopening of its second meeting was cancelled on September 2, 2026 — and the lower house never took it up.

⚠️ The reversal is retroactive: a lapsed measure is treated as having lost effect from the day it was issued. One qualifier is easy to get wrong. If Congress passes no decree about the four months the measure was alive — it has sixty days — relationships already formed stay governed by it. That preserves what was constituted; it is not a permanent exemption for whoever signed up as a rider in that window.

São Paulo goes further than the federal rule

São Paulo stacks a layer on top: since December 2025 the city has its own statute on paid motorcycle transport in any format, with or without an app. On the three requirements it matches federal law: 21 years of age, two years of licence, and the specialised course.

The city also sets conditions no federal rule imposes: an INMETRO-approved helmet in good condition and the right size, plus a disposable hygiene cap to wear under it. Passengers under 18 are barred. The service is prohibited in bus corridors and exclusive lanes, in cycle lanes, on expressways, and during heavy rain. Platforms that breach it face fines from R$ 4,000 to R$ 1.5 million, chargeable per day while the breach continues.

⚠️ Parts of that statute are suspended by the Supreme Court in ADPF 1296 — January 2026, widened in June — and the consolidated text marks each: the passages tying the activity to the mototáxi law, and the aluguel (for-hire) registration and its cost.

The helmet rule does not move

Whatever the city, one thing is fixed nationally: both people wear a helmet, and the rider needs a visor or protective goggles.

Riding without one, or carrying a passenger without one, is a top-tier traffic offence: fine, licence suspension and the machine impounded. A child under 10 may not be carried by motorcycle anywhere in Brazil.

Getting around otherwise stands on firmer ground: ride apps and the rules behind them, the São Paulo metro, and the ride in from Guarulhos. To drive yourself, start with driving in Brazil, the international permit and tolls that read your plate. On safety, the national numbers beat the impression traffic gives, and every app here assumes a working local SIM.

Keep reading: Is Uber safe in Brazil?.

Sources

• Law 12,009/2009 — article 2, where every change the measure made is now struck through and marked expired. Accessed September 28, 2026.
• Provisional Measure 1,360/2026 — the revocation itself, now marked expired, with no conversion. Accessed September 28, 2026.
• National Congress, case file — the September 15, 2026 deadline, no law, no vote. Accessed September 28, 2026.
• Congress act no. 96/2026 — declares that the measure's term ended on September 15, 2026; Diário Oficial, September 17, 2026, section 1, page 3. Accessed September 28, 2026.
• Constitution, article 62 — paragraph 3, loss of effect from issuance; paragraph 7, the single extension; paragraph 11, relationships already formed. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• São Paulo Law 18,349/2025 — the municipal requirements, the equipment, the prohibited situations, the fines, and the markers of what ADPF 1296 suspended. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• Brazilian Traffic Code — the helmet obligation for rider and passenger, and the bar on children under 10. Accessed September 8, 2026.
• Supreme Court, ADPF 1296: the January 20, 2026 injunction — private economic activity, the suspended provisions, the referral to the Plenary — and the June 30, 2026 extension. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• São Paulo City Hall: 99 drops out, April 1, 2026 and Uber's accreditation order suspended, July 24, 2026. Accessed September 16, 2026.

What we could not verify

• What Congress will do about those four months. It has sixty days from the lapse to pass a decree on what formed while the measure was in force; nothing published by September 28, 2026.
• Whether the São Paulo suspensions hold. ADPF 1296 is one minister's injunction, and the decision itself says the full court has yet to confirm it.
• Whether any platform is accredited for motorcycle passengers outside São Paulo. Accreditation is municipal and there is no national register, so it must be checked city by city.