Author: Bhupesh Bhandari
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: November 16, 2001
On your next visit to Manhattan,
you may have the option to travel from one appointment to another in a
cycle rickshaw put together at Agra. Srichakra Cycles Pvt Ltd is in negotiations
with Manhattan Taxi Service to supply rickshaws at $500 apiece.
"The rickshaw costs $100 to make.
We are also likely to bag some orders from Canada," says Srichakra Cycle
chief executive Atul Dwivedi.
According to Dwivedi, in some of
the crowded lanes and bylanes of Manhattan, movement by car has become
very difficult.
"A rickshaw is being seen as an
environment-friendly alternative," he said. Hence, the demand for the rickshaws
his company produces at Agra. These, mind you, are not the millions of
rickshaws moving at a groaning pace all over India. These are modern tricycles,
developed after years of research.
The project was kicked off four
years ago by an NGO called India Cyclerickshaw Improvement Project. Funded
by USAID, engineers from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Canada
worked on improving the rickshaw.
About 10 prototypes were developed
and finally, two were selected-the Delhi model and the Agra model. While
the Delhi model is 36 inches wide, the Agra model is 34 inches wide.
The new rickshaw is almost 45 kg
lighter than the traditional rickshaw-while the older models weigh 95-100
kg, the new ones weigh 50-55 kg. They come with a two-sped gear option,
which reduces the human effort by 17 per cent when the rickshaw is moving
up an incline. Overall, the human effort in pulling this rickshaw is half
of pulling the older rickshaw.
As per people involved with the
project, there are 15 million rickshaws in the country providing employment
to 30 million people. "The possibilities of the new rickshaws are immense,"
one such person said.
Instead of wood, it uses steel tubes.
With a lower chassis, it does not topple. As the seats are made of nylon,
the jerks too are reduced. And its life is six times the life of the older
model.
What is more, it costs more or less
the same as a traditional rickshaw. The modification in the export models
is that the seats have been made more comfortable.
To be sure, about 20 of these post-modern
rickshaws are already plying abroad-at Oxford. After seeing the rickshaws
in India, an environment-friendly transporter took some of these to Oxford
where she is operating a paddle taxi service.
