Institutional development in public transport : implications of selective compliance for Nairobi's paratransit system

Abstract

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.Nairobi’s public transport system is known for being disorderly and even chaotic. Understanding the nature and implications of the current disorder should give planners and public transport actors the tools to devise and promote better institutional frameworks for public transport in Nairobi and elsewhere. This paper uses data from field research carried out in Nairobi in 2010-2011 as part of a larger three-city study. The research used key informant interviews and case studies of paratransit businesses to gain an in-depth understanding of paratransit operations, especially the compliance of individual paratransit firms with existing laws and regulations. A key finding was that, contrary to popular belief, paratransit vehicles did not flagrantly violate all regulations, but practiced what researchers called ‘selective compliance’. They followed some regulations and violated others. This paper analyses this result in order first, to assess the implications of such behaviour for the development of different categories of institutions in Nairobi’s public transport sector, and second, to hone existing theories of institutional change to make them more applicable to urban public transport systems in Africa.