(in East Africa) a minibus or similar vehicle used as a taxi.
Example sentencesExamples
The government was particularly targeting the vehicles known as matatus - usually 24-seater vans and 32-seater omnibuses owned by individuals.
These are matatus, the most popular means of transport for Nairobi's two million people.
Hooting matatu taxis add to the confusion with their somewhat tumultuous chaos.
He reappears with a matatu (which in a more touristy place has the wonderful name of ‘tandala,’ as that is how much it costs without pre-barter), which is a mini minibus, basically a van with seats.
I waded through the taxi-park bedlam into a matatu, and was squashed up on all sides by strangely comforting fat hips, warm arms, moist breaths.
Origin
Swahili, short for mapeni matatu 'thirty cents', a flat fare charged in the early 1960s.