Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses power structures in the urban motorcycle-taxi sector in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It looks at social practices of transport operators and state actors and how they negotiate, enable and restrict market access through power relations.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years/decades motorcycle-taxi services have seen strong growth in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. In cities such as Dar es Salaam they are part of a larger process that transforms the way people travel through urban space. In light of urban growth, social change, and changing mobility needs moto-taxi services fulfil essential functions as providers of public transport. They increase mobility through feeder services, accessing underserved areas, and providing end-to-end trips. Thus, they impact on which places are reached and how distances are covered. Moto-taxis also bring about changing forms/conditions of traveling with regard to security, comfort, and individual preferences but also involve negative externalities and conflicts (e.g. regarding regulations, road safety, emissions).

The mechanisms through which this 'new' urban travel mode is facilitated are based on (the transformation of) social practices and the way actors (stakeholders) are embedded in social structures, networks, and relations, and how this enables or constrains their actions. It depends on public demand and acceptance through urban dwellers. But it also depends on those actors who provide the service and/or can influence/control/restrict its expansion. This latter point is in focus of the proposed paper. It looks at how moto-taxis manage to access the market of transport provision and thus 'power travel' by ferrying large numbers of passengers. In order to understand how market access is enabled or constrained the paper looks at how governance structures are actively negotiated between actors in the moto-taxi field and therefore at the role of 'power in travel'.