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Reduplication of dala, from Englishdollar. The word dala is slang for 5 schilling, which was the daladala fare in the 1980s. Conductors would call dala, dala.[1][2][3]
^ Rizzo, Matteo (2014) “The political economy of an urban megaproject: The Bus Rapid Transit project in Tanzania”, in African Affairs, volume 114, number 455, →DOI, page 258 of 249-270: “The name daladala comes from the name of the 5 shilling coin, dala, the cost of one ride in 1983. Conductors used to ask passengers for dala, dala.”
^ Rizzo, Matteo (2002) “Being Taken for a Ride: Privatisation of the Dar es Salaam Transport System 1983-1998”, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, volume 40, number 1, →DOI, page 155 of 133-157: “The name daladala comes from the name of the 5 shilling coin used to pay for a trip in 1983. As 5 shillings was equivalent to $1, dala was the Swahilisation of dollar.”
As for Tanzanian English, one of the most widely known words from this variety is daladala, the name of a van or minibus that carries passengers for a fare as part of a local informal transport system. Dating back to 1983, the English word comes from Swahili, with daladala being a reduplication of dala 'dollar', perhaps originally as a bus driver's call. Dala is also the nickname of the Tanzanian 5-shilling coin, which used to be the typical fare for daladala mini-buses.
