International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development

Financing and Governing Popular Transport: Institutional Innovations for Informal and Paratransit Systems in the Global South and Beyond

Popular transport carries the majority of trips in most Global South cities, yet it receives a fraction of the financing and policy attention devoted to rail and bus rapid transit. This mismatch reflects a deeper problem: financial institutions and budget processes are structurally biased toward large, creditworthy borrowers and capital-intensive infrastructure, leaving small operators — who are often best positioned to decarbonize and serve low-income riders — chronically under-financed. As cities worldwide pursue sustainability transitions and just, inclusive mobility, understanding how to mobilize capital and redesign governance arrangements for popular transport is urgent and understudied. Comparative research across contexts (Latin America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia) can reveal transferable lessons on creditworthiness enhancement, subsidy design, decentralization, and coalition-building for budget reform — advancing both scholarship and practical policy tools for a historically neglected but socially critical segment of urban transport systems.

This Collection examines the intertwined governance and financing challenges of “popular transport” (e.g., jeepneys, minibuses, matatus, tricycles, motorcycle taxis, and other paratransit modes) that move the majority of urban residents across much of the Global South, yet remain chronically under-financed and under-governed relative to formal mass transit. This Article Collection invites contributors on the following areas:

1. Financing mechanisms for small transport operators: debt financing, credit enhancement, equity subsidies, and the role of banks.
2. Service contracting and subsidy design: how public payment schemes (gross-cost, net-cost, performance-based contracts) affect operator cash flow stability, creditworthiness, and service quality.
3. The politics and political economy of public budgeting: how competing sectoral priorities, institutional rules, and advocacy coalitions shape (in)equitable budget allocation for popular transport versus mass transit.
4. Local government roles and devolution: models of local government involvement in route planning, direct operation, public-private partnerships, fare collection oversight, and transit authority formation.
5. Formalization, consolidation, and cooperative governance: the transition from informal, individually owned operations to cooperatives, corporations, or franchised entities, and its implications for financing access and service delivery.
6. Comparative and cross-regional perspectives: lessons from Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and other regions on paratransit reform.
7. Equity and justice dimensions of popular transport reform: distributional impacts of modernization programs on drivers, operators, and low-income passengers, and mechanisms for just transitions.

Keywords:

1. Popular transport governance
2. Transport financing
3. Informal public transport
4. Global South mobility
5. Popular transport reform

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is June 18, 2027.

Please contact Kara Roberts at kara.roberts@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.

Guest Advisors do not declare any potential conflicts of interests in line with our Editorial Policies.

Dr. Varsolo Sunio is a Professor in the College of Engineering and Technology at Batangas State University, The National Engineering University, LIMA Campus, Batangas, Philippines. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the School of Sciences, Engineering & Technology of the University of Asia and the Pacific. He was a visiting scholar at Portland State University, the University of Tokyo and Mines Paris PSL. His areas of research include public and informal transport, logistics and supply chain, and sustainable transitions.