Conakry is shaped like a long finger pointing into the Atlantic, with the old centre at the tip and the suburbs sprawling inland for thirty kilometres. The Avenue de la République–Route du Niger–Autoroute is the single spine, and traffic on it is appalling.
The standard local transport is the shared taxi, known locally as a "magbana" — usually a beaten-up yellow Mercedes 190 that follows a fixed route and picks up and drops off passengers along the way. Flag one down at the kerb, tell the driver where you are going, and pay a few thousand Guinean francs depending on distance. Routes are not signposted; you learn them by riding and asking.
Private "taxi compteur" — taxis you charter for the whole journey — exist but are expensive by local standards. Negotiate the fare before getting in. Uber, Bolt and Yango all operate in Conakry as of 2024–25 and are by far the easier option for foreign visitors who do not speak French — fares are pre-set, drivers know the addresses, and there is no haggling.
Plan generously. A journey from Kaloum to Madina, perhaps eight kilometres, can take an hour and a half during the rush. Many local Conakrois plan their weekday social lives around avoiding the peninsula's traffic entirely.