The socio-spatial installed base: Ride-hailing applications, parking associations, and precarity in tuk tuk driving in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

In this paper I present an infrastructural analysis of the changing tuk tuk driving sector in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I argue that drivers’ informal, long-standing parking associations, located at well-defined parking spots and based on kinship relations, act as the socio-spatial installed base of Phnom Penh’s tuk tuk infrastructure. I show that two recent infrastructural changes – the increased popularity of ride-hailing applications and “Indian-style” tuk tuks – have made traditional tuk tuk driving more precarious. I show how the parking associations help traditional drivers manage the negative consequences of infrastructural changes. My analysis indicates that parking associations with their kinship bonds, experience, and geographical positioning put established drivers in a privileged position in relation to new independent drivers using digital tools. In effect, while long-standing associations can be effective tools of subversion to platform economies, they also produce barriers to inclusive solidarity.