URGENT: arrest of Jakarta pedicab activists

[SUSTRAN Network Secretariat]

Further to the latest developments in Jakarta I feel prompted to post some
text from our forthcoming Community Action Guide (now at the printers)
which is relevant to the issue.
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In defence of pedicabs

Pedicabs are NOT inefficient or backward. Just like taxis, buses and
bicycles, they have a legitimate place as part of an integrated,
people-centred and sustainable system of transport. They are uniquely
suited to a particular niche - or class of trips. Recently, several cities
in the West have even started pedicab services in their central areas.

In many cities around the world that still have pedicabs, the pedicab
drivers face many difficulties, including exploitation by owners of fleets
of pedicabs. 

"Faced with this inequality and exploitation, how have different
governments responded? In many countries there have been attempts to help
rickshaw-pullers, mostly under the heading of 'rickshaw to the puller'. But
everywhere these attempts have been rather half-hearted, whereas a lot of
official energy has been devoted to abolishing the rickshaw...

... The real reasons for wanting to abolish cycle-rickshaws had nothing to
do with 'efficiency' or 'humanity.' After all, rickshaw drivers were not
the only undisciplined road-users. Nor were rickshaws the most wasteful
users of road space. As for the 'humanitarian reasons', the authorities
cared very little about the other aspects of the pullers' lives. 

The real reason for wanting to do away with cycle-rickshaws was that
wealthy people didn't like them. They detracted from the modern city image
that they were trying to create, and they got in the way of the motor
cars."  (Gallagher, 1992)

Any city in which private cars face little or no restraint or restrictions
can have no justification in restricting the operations of non-motorised
vehicles, including pedicabs. 
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A. Rahman Paul BARTER
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia 
and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network)
P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia.
E-mail: sustran at po.jaring.my
URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction)

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