Informal transport is increasingly recognised as an important topic for development studies and social science more broadly. Currently, however, it is treated in a rather fragmentary way, with sporadic policy reports and occasional academic papers but few holistic studies. This book is therefore a welcome addition to the field, taking an interdisciplinary perspective to explore one particular informal transport system – matatu minibuses in Kenya – in some detail and across a range of dimensions. It brings together authors with backgrounds in transport, educational administration and knowledge acquisition to focus on issues from entrepreneurship to violence and crime.

There is much of interest in this book for those concerned with how informal transport systems work, both generally and in Kenya specifically. Boxes scattered throughout the text add colour to particular aspects of the discussion, sometimes in refreshingly informal or unexpected ways; for example, a box listing slogans plastered on stickers over matatus implicitly suggests deeper dynamics within Kenyan society. Descriptive snapshots and historical context are complemented by periodic engagement with the theoretical ideas of Pierre Bourdieu. Chapter 6, which expands upon this theme to explore the ‘logic of practice’ in the matatu industry, is a highlight in this regard. Despite the complexity of Bourdieu's ideas and the fairly brief introduction to them in the book, the use of the habitus concept to explore dynamics in the sector is a welcome change, given the usual tendency for informal economy studies to be couched in terms of informal institutions or norms. Thinking instead about informal practices as systems of ‘durable, transposable dispositions’ (p. 70), rooted in the history of the sector and its initial marginalisation under colonial and post-colonial regimes, feels fresh in this particular scholarly context. The authors thus highlight how the history of matatu operation as a ‘beleaguered’ mode of transport, which initially ‘operated from marginal spaces in a secretive manner in order to survive’ (p. 74), influences dynamics and practices in the sector today.

Despite these various points of interest, the diversity of perspectives embodied in this co-authored book is also one of its weaknesses. The whole feels distinctly less than the sum of its parts and the flow between chapters, as well as within chapters, is sometimes far from smooth. Patchy discussions of entrepreneurship jostle uncomfortably with the ideas of Bourdieu, and various theoretical and analytical frameworks are tantalisingly introduced – regarding the dynamics of ‘self-organising sectors’ (p. 17), for example – without being adequately followed through. One is left wanting rather more by way of a systematic analysis of the sector that integrates the theoretical perspectives discussed and builds across the chapters into a coherent conclusion. As it stands, the book ends in a sudden and rather perplexing way. Nevertheless, there are lots of pockets of important and interesting information in the book, which starts to fill an important gap in terms of the comprehensive exploration of informal transport systems. It is relevant to all those who seek better to understand this economically, socially and politically crucial sector, both in Africa and beyond.