Rapid changes in the South African cities are making way for the state to develop strategies for strengthening of existing rail transport and establishing bus rapid transit systems controlled by the city. The on-going process of urban public transport reforms have little consideration for the extensively used para-transit services of Mini Bus Taxi (MBT) that is used by the majority of the populace. Contrarily the MBT is seen as a problem sector since its beginnings from the 1980’s. This case study traces the evolution of the para transit system in Cape Town through ethnographic narratives of the associations and leaderships that has consolidated the sector to an extent it cannot be ignored. Further it builds on the argument on ways of seeing institutionalization of para-transit services and their integration into the public transport networks, emphasizing on the emergent change required for imagining hybrid modes of public transportation systems.