In the Dhaka metropolis, as per the latest available official data, 29-39 per cent trips are hitched by rickshaws. The tricycles usually driven by pedals carry passengers for hire. It is difficult to find a place in our country where people do not use rickshaws as a general mode of transport. It is the most environment-friendly and cheapest mode of transport on short-distance roads. The main reason of its affordability is because it requires human labour for driving pedals. Rickshaw-pullers are socio-economically a poor segment of people and fall into the group of unskilled labour. Due to the innumerable number of unskilled and unemployed people in the country, pulling rickshaw is often the first choice of those who come to cities to earn their living. Most of the rickshaw pullers are illiterate. What they know well is: the more you pedal, the more you earn. However, nowadays, at least one out of every five rickshaws is not required to be pedalled anymore. These are the battery-powered motorised rickshaws.
A battery-run rickshaw is just the combination of a rechargeable battery and an electric motor fitted to other mechanical and electronic devices by local mechanics for a faster speed. It adds more weight to an ordinary rickshaw without any modification of its vital components or design. As a result, a pedal rickshaw, when it runs on batteries, gets a faster speed but less control. Though pedal rickshaws are held responsible for traffic congestions because of their slow speed, the motorised rickshaws cannot be the remedy.
Rickshaws are locally made by our own self-educated mechanics. A pedal rickshaw costs around Tk 25,000. Rickshaw pullers hire them from their owners on a daily basis at a cost of Tk 90-100 per day. But a motorised rickshaw costs around Tk 50,000-60,000 and a driver can hire it for Tk 350 a day. Amazingly, passengers need to pay either equal or less fare for riding a motorised rickshaw than a pedal-driven one. Motorised rickshaw drivers need to make more trips than the pedal-driven ones to make up for their daily costs, which are three times higher, by taking the advantage of speed and less physical labour it requires. Speed is the key factor in this case while the less physical labour is an added benefit of it. That is prompting more and more rickshaw pullers to opt for motorised rickshaws nowadays. Passengers are also enjoying their travel by these rickshaws, though they risk their lives by doing so.
Adding extra electrical and mechanical devices to an ordinary rickshaw has some additional costs involved. Components that are added to motorise a rickshaw are all imported. So, such conversion of rickshaws increasingly will just raise the import-related costs. The additional funds required for converting rickshaws can be spend in other prospective and viable areas like small-scale enterprises. Moreover, these vehicles do not have the permission to be on a road. Still these are running under the very nose of the law-enforcing agencies. Surely, it is providing a scope for corruption.
It is true that it is inhuman to drive rickshaws powered by human-pedals, (especially when the unskilled labour is relatively cheap) while most people prefer to travel at a faster speed to save time and keep pace with the happenings around them. But in the greater public interest the issue of safety cannot be ignored. Modern bicycles can generate a better speed with less human efforts. A rickshaw can turn to the same technology, which will help reduce the necessity of human efforts and increase productivity. Our young and talented engineers can take it as a project at their personal initiatives to improve effectiveness of such vehicles. The government, non-government organisations (NGOs) and corporate houses can initiate an open competition seeking improved designs of motorised rickshaws. This simple yet noble act will help change not only the scenario of rickshaw ride, but also will increase the efficacy level.
On the other hand, these motorised rickshaws can be reengineered and made road-ready as in all other countries so that these can run on all roads in the city keeping pace with all other modes of vehicles. In this case, the authority can charge higher taxes while granting road permits and issuing fitness certificates, which will increase revenue earning of the government.
It is the high time to take necessary steps for remodelling the illegal motorised rickshaws before more and more money is invested in it. In this digital era, a rickshaw may be modified into a modern rickshaw. Efforts to improve this particular mode of transport by increasing its efficiency, beauty and benefits can help keep the heritage alive. At the same time, we should remember that adding wings to a caterpillar does not create a butterfly. Rather, it creates an awkward and dysfunctional caterpillar. The heritage of rickshaw should not meet the same fate.
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