The Remarkable Rise of Taxis in Developing Nations

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The taxi industry in developing nations is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary socio-economic phenomena to date. The fact that a free informal market enterprise is now the foundation and the backbone of many economies of the global south is absurd simply put (Khosa, 1992). In 2010, the Taxi industry of the Rainbow Nation was calculated to generate revenues between the figures of R35 billion rands annually, it is safe to assume that the number has skyrocketed further since that time (Gibbs, 2014). In some cases, the colonial powers deprived particular citizens of infrastructure or access thereof through legislation and policy. Some of the discriminated deprived citizens took this opportunity to provide some form of transportation to their people for economic prosperity and settlement functionality. Taxis have gained a lot of popularity and influence over the years; they have a grip on routes on which they work with other forms of public transportation modes like buses. In recent times more taxis have continued to emerge as a result of formal transportation not being able to meet demand when servicing people (Pisa and Walters, 2023). They not only close the demand gap, but they are affordable, efficient and reliable. They have become so embedded in our daily lives we cannot avoid nor try to plan around them; they have proven to be flexible and cater for a greater number of people in societies of different classes. References

Gibbs, T., 2014. Becoming a “big man” in neo-liberal South Africa: Migrant masculinities in the minibus-taxi industry. African Affairs, 113(452), pp.431-448.

Khosa, M.M., 1992. Routes, ranks and rebels: feuding in the taxi revolution. Journal of Southern African Studies, 18(1), pp.232-251.

Walters, J. and Pisa, N., 2023. Review of South Africa’s public transport system. Research in Transportation Economics, 100, p.101322.