[sustran] Re: Auto-rickshaws in Mumbai

[Carlos F. Pardo SUTP]

Lloyd Wright's suggestion to replace auto-rickshaws for cycle-rickshaws is a
great idea, but implies hard work convincing owners and drivers of the
vehicles that they will earn the same amount of money with cycle rickshaws,
and that they have a much lower cost of maintenance. I'm in a similar
process (motorcycle taxis to cycle-rickshaws) here, but the major obstacle
is the one I just mentioned (also, drivers don't like a human-powered
vehicle vs a motorized one, since it is they who are pedalling).

The other obviously difficult factor is to persuade people (and/or
policymakers) into the idea that NMT is not a sign of backwardness or
poorness (this also includes changing regulations for rickshaws). If these
two things are well managed, you'll have an easier way to replacement. ITDP
has a lot of experience in the actual improvement of rickshaws in India and
Indonesia with Shreya Gadepalli, generating much more efficient cycle
rickshaws at a similar cost.

Best regards, 

Carlos F. Pardo 


-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+carlos.pardo=sutp.org at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+carlos.pardo=sutp.org at list.jca.apc.org] On
Behalf Of Lloyd Wright
Sent: Lunes, 13 de Marzo de 2006 04:32 p.m.
To: alan at ourpeagreenboat.co.uk; Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport
Subject: [sustran] Re: Auto-rickshaws in Mumbai

Well, if the auto-rickshaws become cycle rickshaws the jobs are saved and
air
quality will benefit.

------ Original Message ------
Received: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:09:17 PM EST
From: Alan P Howes <alan at ourpeagreenboat.co.uk>
To: sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.orgCc: alok.bhardwaj at tcs.com,
arun.mokashi at tcs.com
Subject: [sustran] Auto-rickshaws in Mumbai

BUT, they provide a livelihood for 1,00,000 families - even if the
number of buses had to be increased to cater for the extra passengers
(which is doubtful), they would not soak up a fraction of the jobs -
and BEST already employs more staff per bus than most urban buscos in
India.

So has anyone got any bright suggestions for squaring this circle?

(NB - Mumbai, with a population of 16m, apparently only has 5,00,000
formal jobs - difficult to soak up 1,00,000 guys there.  And also NB -
those commas in numbers are in the right place - for India.)

Regards, Alan




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