Introduction

Kampala is not a particularly big city. In 2019, the population of the Ugandan capital was just under 1.5 million, with the metropolitan population estimated at 3.3 million. Traversing the central city, however, can take the better part of two hours as matatus (the East African term for minivan taxis), four-by-four vehicles, sedans and motorcycle taxis compete for precious commuter space. Boda-bodas started as bicycle taxis in the 1960s in the Kenyan town of Busia, where they were used to smuggle goods across the border to Uganda, and have since retained their name (Mutiso and Behrens, 2011). The transformation of boda-bodas into informal ‘for hire’ transport services that range from passenger use to the running of errands and goods delivery has made this mode an essential part of Kampala’s transportation system. As ubiquitous as boda-bodas are, however, they are very contested.

I first came across this antagonism when I was asked to speak on a panel on smart cities in Africa at an event at Makerere University in Kampala in November 2019. I shared the podium with an official from the Kampala City Capital Authority (KCCA) and the chief operations officer (COO) of SafeBoda, a Ugandan mobile platform for boda-boda riders. Proceedings got off to a rocky start when the KCCA official thinly disguised his dismissal of the boda-boda industry, arguing for limitations on numbers and strong-arm regulation. I was familiar with this sensibility. In the ten years that I have worked on the African continent, the unease and sometimes downright hostility towards the informal is depressingly familiar. The French term transport artisanal is perhaps more nuanced in acknowledging that these are demand-responsive systems: home-grown, deeply contextual and appropriate to local needs. The concept of ‘artisanal transport’ goes beyond stigmatizing paratransit (Godard, 2008: 1–2), allowing for it to be analysed in conjunction with more conventional modes. The relationship between the formal and informal is sometimes unclear, as it brings the topic of regulation into the equation.