| dc.description.abstract | Matatus, as Nairobi’s paratransit vehicles are called, are businesses offering a service to
the public for a price that their owners hope will yield a profit. This paper investigates the
nature and variety of matatu business strategies and their
relationship not only to
government’s stated aim of improving the urban public transport sector but also to the
sometimes competing institutions of the public transport industry and the wider society.
Drawing on interviews of informed observers of matatu
businesses, the paper found that
matatus are businesses that vary in structure and modes of operation. Their strategic
behaviour covered multiple aspects of their businesses. The research suggests that
Nairobi’s public transport businesses form a continuum
extending from the ‘typical’
individually owned 14
-
seat van or mini
-
bus through larger, more organised firms. One
emerging trend appears to be the movement towards higher levels of organisation through
franchising, networking, and ownership of multiple ve
hicles. The paper concludes that
matatu businesses render a necessary service to Nairobi’s travelling public, but this
service is of low quality and generates considerable negative externalities, partly because
of erratic enforcement of regulations and end
emic corruption. The paper’s conclusions will
be tested against data to be gathered from the business owners themselves in the second
phase of the research | en |
