The authors show that the transportation-infrastructure transition from colt kampus (essentially independent drivers and entrepreneurs) to bis kota (state-sponsored and ?organized firms) in the mid to late 1970s provided an occasion for the government and key players (elites) to shift the structures of transit authority in a manner that was consistent with larger political changes taking place in Indonesia in those years, including the “campus normalization” scheme, and attempts to constrict the economic and social activities of ethnic Chinese businessmen. The article draws on the research team’s interviews, participant observations, and archival research conducted in Yogyakarta city from August 2014 to September 2017.