Vehicle registration plates of Tanzania

Number plates of Tanzania date back to at least 1933 in Tanganyika and to the 1950s in Zanzibar. They are the same size as their British counterparts and used the same font until the late 1980s. Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar use slightly different formats.

1933

In 1933, Tanganyika used white-on-black plates. Letters denoted the city (DS for Dar es Salaam) and was followed by four numbers.

XX 9999 XX 9999

1980s

British standard plates were still being used in the 1980s. Tanzania used yellow plates (front and back) for private cars, while white plates were used on busses, taxis and hire cars. All plates began with a 'T', followed by two letters and four numbers.

TXX 9999 TXX 9999
TXX 9999 TXX 9999

1990s

In the 1990s, the font was changed to one resembling the FE-Schrift of German plates. The preceding 'T' was replaced by other letters and the number of digits reduced to three.

XXX 9999 XXX 9999
XXX 9999 XXX 9999

2000s

Current plates are similar to British rear plates from 1999
Privat plate from 2009

In the 21st Century, the letters and numbers were swapped and the preceding 'T' was returned.

T 999 XXX T 999 XXX
T 999 XXX T 999 XXX

Later they added the flag of Tanzania in front of the 'T'.

Diplomatic plates

Diplomatic plates 2009

Diplomatic plates for diplomatic missions and consular services are yellow-on-green. 'T' is followed by a three-digit number denoting the country in alphabetical order (001 to 255), 'CD' and a two or three-digit number then follows.

T 111 CD 99

111 denotes the country code.

Diplomatic plates for international and regional organizations (United Nations funds and programmes, World Bank...) are white-on-blue. 'T' is followed by a three-digit number denoting the country in alphabetical order (200 to 399), 'CD' and a three-digit number then follows.

T 203 CD 113

203 denotes the organization code.

Military plates

Military plates are white-on-black.

9999 XX 99 9999 XX 99

Nationalparc vehicle plates

Zanzibar

Zanzibar uses a different number plate system from the rest of Tanzania. By the 1970s plates had changed from the white-on-black style to the black-on-white and black-on-yellow system as used in Britain. Unlike the rest of Tanzania, white plates in Zanzibar were also used on personal vehicles. The 1980s numbering system in Zanzibar was similar to that in the rest of Tanzania, except the preceding 'T' was replaced with a 'Z'.

ZXX 9999 ZXX 9999

Currently Zanzibar is using a new approach to number the registered cars with registration resembling the Tanzania mainland registration. The one applicable now Starts with a Z (denoting Zanzibar) followed by 3 (three) digits number and later a combination of two alphabets. The series started with Z 101 AA and continues to change the number until 999 when AB series starts. The permutation and combination is expected to continue to Z 999 ZZ. White and Yellow plates are used on Private Cars and White on Maroon is used for Commercial vehicles

Z 101 AA Z 101 AA

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/17/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.