Busting Boda Boda Myths
As I pointed out in my article for African Arguments earlier this week, boda bodas have been marginalized in society and sidelined from planning, preventing us from effectively regulating the bracingly fast industry. To overcome this and bring boda boda riders into planning, we have to first investigate some of the myths that remain pervasive in the industry and see how they stack up against the evidence so far. Here are six myths we thought worth investigating:
Myth #1: Boda riders are all young, irresponsible men
Boda boda drivers are parents, siblings, and even grandparents. The average boda boda rider is around 32 years old, and over 90% are married with a family. They support families and even extended family members through their work, and make up many threads of the social fabric of Uganda.
Myth #2: Boda boda riders are uneducated
Boda boda riders are roughly as educated as the rest of the country, with an average of 8 years of education. Half have started or finished O-Levels, according to a study from 2020. Boda boda riders in Greater Kampala are better educated than the average Ugandan, but less well educated than the average resident of Kampala District.
Myth #3: Boda boda riders are criminals
Boda boda riders are identified by most people simply as someone driving a motorcycle. Unfortunately, the characteristics that make motorcycles such efficient vehicles in Kampala traffic also make them perfect getaway vehicles — they are highly maneuverable, fast, cheap, and accessible. The assassins who attempted to take General Katumba’s life last year used motorcycles for this reason — and the General was then saved by a boda boda rider who took him to the hospital. Most boda boda riders greatest crimes against the law are minor traffic infractions.
Myth #4: Boda bodas cause traffic jams
This is one of the most repeated and easily disproven myths about boda bodas by pundits, including even the Kampala Capital City Authority. Boda bodas are highly maneuverable — their most prized feature is that they can always beat the jam, though they may be slowed down by it. Motorcycles with a single passenger are much more space efficient than a car with a single passenger, which can take up six to ten square meters of road space, compared to a motorcycles roughly two square meters.
Myth #5: Boda bodas make a negligible impact on the economy
At the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown, President Museveni described the contribution of boda bodas to the economy as no more than a spoonful of tea. Yet not only are boda bodas the largest source of employment in Uganda after agriculture, they also support a wider ecosystem of mechanics, petrol stations, and spare parts dealers.
Most critically, boda bodas provide transportation services to nearly everyone, boosting the economy as a whole. Small shops rely on boda bodas to deliver cartons of goods from wholesale markets. Residents depend on boda bodas to deliver food and goods. They have also played a key role in the development of the tech economy — the ride-hailing app SafeBoda has likely done more than any other single player to develop, encourage, and build trust in Uganda’s tech sector.
Myth #6: It is impossible to organize boda boda riders
This is a complicated one. Attempts at organizing boda boda riders in Uganda have been scattershot, and at the upper level, have been spearheaded mostly by police and politicians rather than riders. The highest profile organizations — Boda Boda 2010 and KUBOCA — were both created by the police and politicians, and unsurprisingly became conduits for police informants and state violence against the opposition. Boda boda organization is strongest at the local level of stages, where drivers choose their own leadership and set of rules. Their physical presence binds them to the neighborhood and makes the trustworthy couriers and organizers. They support one another in case of accidents and family emergencies, raising money to help each other out when things go south. Today, the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union is attempting to improve representation for drivers, but obstacles remain as new organizations with unknown backers pop up all the time.
