This article offers an ambitious, though still fragmented, history of motorcycle taxis in Peru. It offers three central arguments. First, it highlights that motorcycle taxi drivers have played a fundamental role in the production of urban space.Second, it argues that state, elite, and popular discourses about «informality» and the «modern city» stigmatize motorcycle taxi drivers in ways that are classist and racialized, targeting them for strict policing. Finally, it suggests that if we think with motorcycle taxi drivers and the materiality of motorcycle taxis, we can reveal the contradictions inherent to the «formal»-«informal» and «modern»- «non-modern» binaries and thus more lucidly analyze urban space and relations.

There are hundreds of thousands of mototaxistas in Lima, and they are vital to everyday mobility in much of the city. Meanwhile, many authorities designate them as threats to «progress» and the «formal order». This article proceeds from that tension, seeking to further understanding of the mototaxi economy, everyday mobility, and transport planning in Lima. The article begins by highlighting the ways that mototaxistas help connect the urban fabric and create space. It then critically analyzes authorities’ efforts to strictly govern mototaxistas, as situated within authorities’ broader war against «informality». As a corrective to authorities’ normative perspectives for how people should move through the city, this article argues that instead of characterizing mototaxis and other forms of transit as «informal», we should understand them as forms of popular transit.

This article offers an ambitious, though still fragmented, history of motorcycle taxis in Peru. It offers three central arguments. First, it highlights that motorcycle taxi drivers have played a fundamental role in the production of urban space.Second, it argues that state, elite, and popular discourses about «informality» and the «modern city» stigmatize motorcycle taxi drivers in ways that are classist and racialized, targeting them for strict policing. Finally, it suggests that if we think with motorcycle taxi drivers and the materiality of motorcycle taxis, we can reveal the contradictions inherent to the «formal»-«informal» and «modern»- «non-modern» binaries and thus more lucidly analyze urban space and relations.

There are hundreds of thousands of mototaxistas in Lima, and they are vital to everyday mobility in much of the city. Meanwhile, many authorities designate them as threats to «progress» and the «formal order». This article proceeds from that tension, seeking to further understanding of the mototaxi economy, everyday mobility, and transport planning in Lima. The article begins by highlighting the ways that mototaxistas help connect the urban fabric and create space. It then critically analyzes authorities’ efforts to strictly govern mototaxistas, as situated within authorities’ broader war against «informality». As a corrective to authorities’ normative perspectives for how people should move through the city, this article argues that instead of characterizing mototaxis and other forms of transit as «informal», we should understand them as forms of popular transit.

There are hundreds of thousands of mototaxistas in Lima, and they are vital to everyday mobility in much of the city. Meanwhile, many authorities designate them as threats to «progress» and the «formal order». This article proceeds from that tension, seeking to further understanding of the mototaxi economy, everyday mobility, and transport planning in Lima. The article begins by highlighting the ways that mototaxistas help connect the urban fabric and create space. It then critically analyzes authorities’ efforts to strictly govern mototaxistas, as situated within authorities’ broader war against «informality». As a corrective to authorities’ normative perspectives for how people should move through the city, this article argues that instead of characterizing mototaxis and other forms of transit as «informal», we should understand them as forms of popular transit.

This article offers an ambitious, though still fragmented, history of motorcycle taxis in Peru. It offers three central arguments. First, it highlights that motorcycle taxi drivers have played a fundamental role in the production of urban space.Second, it argues that state, elite, and popular discourses about «informality» and the «modern city» stigmatize motorcycle taxi drivers in ways that are classist and racialized, targeting them for strict policing. Finally, it suggests that if we think with motorcycle taxi drivers and the materiality of motorcycle taxis, we can reveal the contradictions inherent to the «formal»-«informal» and «modern»- «non-modern» binaries and thus more lucidly analyze urban space and relations.