Cycle rickshaw in Beijing

Recumbent style cycle taxi/pedicab in London

A trishaw and rider at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport; it is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, becak, trisikad, or trishaw or, simply, rickshaw which also refers to auto rickshaws, and the, now uncommon, rickshaws pulled by a person on foot. Cycle rickshaws are human-powered, a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers in addition to the driver. They are often used on a for hire basis. Cycle rickshaws are widely used in major cities around the world, but most commonly in cities of South, Southeast and East Asia.

Configurations[link]

An extensively decorated trishaw in Melaka

Typical Manila pedicabs, or "trisikad."

The vehicle is pedal-driven by a driver, though some configurations are equipped with an electric motor to assist the driver.^[1][2][3] Electric-assist pedicabs were banned in New York City in January 2008, along with all other forms of electric vehicles; the city council decided to allow pedicabs propelled only by muscle power.^{[citation needed]} The city of Toronto, Canada decided not to issue permits to electric-assist pedicabs.^{[citation needed]}

The vehicle is usually a tricycle, though some quadracycle models exist, and some bicycles with trailers are configured as cycle rickshaws. The configuration of driver and passenger seats vary by design, though passenger seats are usually located above the span of the longest axle. For example, in most of South Asia, the passenger seat is located behind the driver on a "delta" tricycle, while in Indonesia and Vietnam the driver sits behind the passenger seat on a "tadpole" tricycle. In the Philippines, the passenger seats are usually located beside the driver. there are also recumbent tricycles like the "R-eco trike" that operate in london.

Nomenclature[link]

For the origins of the word 'rickshaw', see the article Pulled rickshaw#Etymology

Cycle rickshaws are known as cyclo (pronounced see-clo) in Cambodia and Vietnam, cycle rickshaw in India and Bangladesh, trishaw (simplified Chinese: 三轮车; traditional Chinese: 三輪車; pinyin: sānlúnchē) from "tricycle rickshaw", in Malaysia and Singapore, becak in Indonesia, and "trisikad", padyak or traysikad in the Philippines and cyclo (Khmer: សុីក្លូ) in Cambodia. Cycle rickshaws are known as saikka (ဆိုက်ကား) in Myanmar, a transliteration of English "side car". In the United Kingdom and United States cycle rickshaws are more widely pedicabs.^{[citation needed]} In Buffalo, New York, this type of vehicle is known as a bike taxi. In Mexico, they are called bicitaxi or taxi ecologico (literally "ecological taxi").

In Thailand, any three-wheeler is called samlor (Thai: สามล้อ, which literally means "three wheels"), whether motorized or not, including pedicabs, motorcycles with attached vending carts or sidecars, etc. The driver is also called samlor.

Country overview[link]

Australia[link]

Pedicab rickshaw in front of Sydney Customs House, Dec, 2010

Modern pedicab rickshaws in the city of Sydney run from Pitt Street Mall at the bottom of the Centre Point Tower to Circular Quay with the Sydney Opera House.^[4]

Bangladesh[link]

Cycle rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The city is known as the Rickshaw Capital of the World.^[5] Approximately 400,000 cycle rickshaws run each day.^[6]

Cycle rickshaws (রিকশা riksha) are the most popular modes of transport in Bangladesh and are available for hire throughout the country including the capital city Dhaka, known as the "Rickshaw Capital of the World".^[5] Cycle rickshaws in Bangladesh are also more convenient than the other public modes of transports in the country namely auto rickshaws, cabs and buses. They are mostly convertible rickshaws with folding hoods and are the only kind of vehicles that can be driven in many neighborhoods of the city with narrow streets and lanes. However, increasing traffic congestion and the resulting collisions have led to the banning of rickshaws on many major streets in the city. Urban employment in Bangladesh also largely depend on cycle rickshaws. Because of inflation and unemployment in the rural areas, people from villages crowd in the cities to become rickshaw drivers locally called the riksha-wala (রিকশাওয়ালা).

China[link]

Cycle rickshaw in Shenyang

During the early 1990s, tricycle rickshaws became an expensive and popular mode of transportation for tourists over short distances.^{[citation needed]} Whilst many local tourism authorities still issue licenses for rickshaw drivers to carry passengers, authorities in China are tightening rules in order to alleviate cheating of tourists (many rickshaw drivers are renowned for over-charging non-locals and foreign tourists) and to reduce traffic congestion (e.g. a typical Chinese cycle-rickshaw will travel at less than 10kmh and is wide enough to fill an entire traffic or bicycle lane and therefore are blamed as a major cause of traffic congestion), and have been banned in many cities already.

Germany[link]

A Velotaxi cycle rickshaw in Hamburg, Germany

In 1997 a new pedicab design was created in Berlin, Germany, by Ludger Matuszewski, the founder of "Velotaxi GmbH" company. The cab was designed by Ludger Matuszewski, a former Daimler-Chrysler project manager from Berlin. Velotaxis are often used for group functions like weddings. Under German traffic laws, transporting people on bicycles was forbidden. Berlin's Senate, police, and taxi associations finally agreed that the "cult-flitzer" could be integrated into the city's traffic flow. Germany's highest court later ruled that transporting people on bikes was legal. It is a modern and newly designed pedicab (CityCruiser) with a 500-watt electric assist motor. Although these electric-assist pedicabs were engineered in Germany they are manufactured in the Czech Republic and some clones are now also produced in China. The Chinese clone can be purchased for about three thousand US dollars; the German original is around six thousand US dollars (new version 9000+ €). The batteries last about 4 hours with a full charge. As with a few recumbent and semi-recumbent designs, some drivers may suffer with knee and joint pain due to the weight of the vehicle (145 kg).

India[link]

A cycle rickshaw carrying shoe boxes in Agra

In India, the term rickshaw usually refers to cycle rickshaws^{[citation needed]}, although their number is decreasing. In cities where both pulled rickshaws and auto rickshaws are present, the term auto is often used to refer to the auto rickshaw to avoid confusion.

Cycle rickshaws are still common in towns and villages throughout India, including Central Delhi and Kolkata.

Matheran

Matheran, India, is a tourist hill station near Mumbai. It is an eco-sensitive zone where motor vehicles are banned so man-pulled rickshaws are still one of the major forms of transport there.

Fazilka "Dial a Rickshaw"

Fazilka Ecocabs Logo

Traction Man on Fazilka Ecocab "Nano Model"

In June 2008, the Punjab border town of Fazilka began offering rickshaw service similar to dial-up taxi cab operations.^[7][8] Named "Ecocabs", it is known locally as "Pushpak Sewa". the first modified light-weight low-floor rickshaw was introduced under the name Nano.^[9] In 2010, the service was introduced by the state governments of Punjab and Haryana upon the orders of the Honorable Punjab and Haryana High Court.^[10]

Amritsar

Ecocabs were introduced by the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board in association with Graduates Welfare Association Fazilka (GWAF) and District Administration in Amritsar. Here in the Ecocabs^[11] FM Radio facility is also available. Its concept as Para Transit Mode of Public Transport along with Rickshaw design improvement is well taken by various other Indian cities as well.

Patiala-GreenCABS

On the similar line of Ecocabs, in November 2010, Patiala GreenCABS were introduced in the city by the local NGO, the Patiala Foundation^[12]

Indonesia[link]

Becak in front of the British embassy in Jakarta, 1968

A becak and its driver wait for a fare in Bandung, Indonesia

Cycle rickshaws in Indonesia are called becak (pronounced [ˈbetʃaʔ]. Becak were considered an icon of the capital city of Jakarta prior to its ban in the 1970s. Citing concerns of public order, the city government forbade them on the city's main streets. However, many becak still operate near slums throughout the city. Attempts at reinforcing the ban resulted in large-scale seizures of the vehicle in the late 1990s and in 2007.^[13]

Ireland[link]

In 1994, a wine-club owner named B. McDonald started Pedicabs Ireland with twelve imported pedicab rickshaws.^{[citation needed]} Sponsored pedicabs on the streets of Dublin give free rides to passengers, as the revenue generated from the advertisements on these pedicabs gives a wage to the drivers. Yellow pedicabs are available in Galway.

Finland[link]

Cycle rickshaws are available for rent at Kaivopuisto in Helsinki. The rental company brought the vehicles from the city of Lappeenranta in 2009. ^[14]

Malaysia[link]

beca from Parit Jawa, Muar, Johor, at the Muzium Negara

In Malaysia, pedestrian-pulled rickshaws were gradually replaced by cycle rickshaws (beca in Malay). Cycle rickshaws were ubiquitous up to the 1970s in cities. Since then, rapid urbanization has increased demand for more efficient public transport, resulting in dwindling cycle rickshaw numbers. Today, cycle rickshaws are operated mostly as a tourist attraction, with small numbers operating in Malacca, Penang, Kelantan and Terengganu.

Philippines[link]

Pedicabs in downtown Sampaloc, Manila

A Philippine pedicab is called a trisikad and is made by mounting a sidecar to a regular bicycle. They are used mainly to ferry passengers short distances along smaller, more residential streets, often too or from jeepneys or other public utility vehicles. They are also used for transporting cargo too heavy to carry by hand and over a distance too short or roads too congested for motor transport. During rainy season, they are useful as a way to avoid walking through floodwaters. Along with the jeepney, the motorized tricycle, and the engine-powered kuliglig, the open-air pedicab provides shade when needed.

Poland[link]

Cycle rickshaws in Warsaw during World War II

During World War II, when Poland was under Nazi German occupation, the German authorities confiscated most privately owned cars and many of the streetcars and busses. Because of that, public transport was partially replaced by cycle rickshaws, at first improvised and with time mass-produced by bicycle factories. Cycle rickshaws became popular in Warsaw and by the start of the Warsaw Uprising were a common sight on the city's streets.

United Kingdom[link]

Pedicab rickshaws or cycle rickshaws were introduced by Simon Lane (the father of pedicabing in the UK) to Cambridge first but where then moved to London in 1998, where he teamed up with Ryan Vardy. Ryan latter formed eco chariots and operates a fleet of unique recumbent cycle taxis/pedicabs. It was used as an emission free transport alternative and youth empowerment initiative. Chris Smallwood then established Bugbugs, which grew to be the largest fleet of human powered vehicles in Western Europe by 2004. It is possible to hire cycle rickshaws from places in Piccadilly, Leicester Square, Soho and Covent Garden, along with other parts of central London. In 2006 Transport for London commissioned a consultation in respect to pedicab licenses because of their growing number, currently around 500, due to opposition from the industry and London’s cab drivers no further action was taken.

Eco-chariots specialise in special/private events like weddings, hen and stag nights, promotions, advertising and cooperate events. Pedicabs and their variants are also available in major cities such as Edinburgh, Cambridge and Oxford.

United States[link]

Jays Valet, Luxury Transportation & Pedicab Service in the 4th of July (Independence Day) Parade in Aspen, CO

In many major cities, pedicabs can be found rolling about city centers, nightlife districts, park lands, sports stadia, and tourist-heavy areas. Myriad uses have been discovered in the states, including car-park-to-event transport at large events nationwide. Thousands of pedicabs today operate on streets and lots of locales including Austin, Tx; Manhattan, NY; Chicago; San Diego; Boston; San Francisco; Miami; Washington, D.C.; Denver; Portland, OR; Seattle; Charleston; New Orleans; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; Cincinnati; and dozens of other hot spots. Manhattan sports the largest collection of pedicabs operating within city limits, and the City of New York itself has mandated that approximately 850 pedicabs always sport operating permits issued by the city.^[15]

Pedicabs in the states seem to have gotten their start at the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle.^[16] Soon afterward, TIPKE got its start as a manufacturer in Washington state.

Subsequent U.S. manufacturers included Paradise Pedicabs, Main Street Pedicabs, Charleston Pedicab and Incredicycles.com. Only Main Street Pedicab and Incredicycles.com persists.

Cycle Rickshaw in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio

Outside Asia[link]

Moscow, Russia

Cycle rickshaws are also used in most large European, and some North America cities, primarily their novelty values, as an entertaining form of transportation for tourists and locals, but they also have environmental benefits and may be quicker than other forms of transport if traffic congestion is high. Cycle rickshaws used out side Asia often are mechanically more complex, having multiple gears, more powerful brakes, and in some cases electrical motors to provide additional power.

Economic and political aspects[link]

Cycle rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh

A cycle rickshaw driver in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

In many Asian cities where they are widely used, cycle rickshaw driving provides essential employment for recent immigrants from rural areas, generally impoverished men. One study in Bangladesh showed that cycle rickshaw driving was connected with some increases in income for poor agricultural laborers who moved to urban areas, but that the extreme physical demands of the job meant that these benefits decreased for long-term drivers.^[17] In Jakarta, most cycle rickshaw drivers in the 1980s were former landless agricultural laborers from rural areas of Java.^[18]

Modern cycle rickshaw in Beijing Street

In 2003, Dhaka cycle rickshaw drivers earned an estimated average of Tk 143 (US$2.38) per day, of which they paid about Tk 50 (US$0.80) to rent the cycle rickshaw for a day. Older, long-term drivers earned substantially less.^[17] A 1988–89 survey found that Jakarta drivers earned a daily average of Rp. 2722 (US$ 1.57).^[18] These wages, while widely considered very low for such physically demanding work, do in some situations compare favorably to jobs available to unskilled workers.^[19]

In many cities, most drivers do not own their own cycle rickshaws; instead, they rent them from their owners, some of whom own many cycle rickshaws. Driver-ownership rates vary widely. In Delhi, a 1980 study found only one percent of drivers owned their vehicles, but ownership rates in several other Indian cities were much higher, including fifteen percent in Hyderabad and twenty-two percent in Faridabad. A 1977 study in Chiang Mai, Thailand found that 44% of cycle rickshaw drivers were owners. In Bangladesh, driver-ownership is usually highest in rural areas and lowest in the larger cities. Most cycle rickshaws in that country are owned by individuals who have only one or two of them, but some owners in the largest cities own several hundred.^[19]

Taiwanese Prohibitory Sign P9: No Pedicabs

Some countries and cities have banned or restricted cycle rickshaws. They are often prohibited in congested areas of major cities. For example, they were banned in Bangkok in the mid 1960s as not fitting the modern image of the city being promoted by the government.^{[citation needed]} In Dhaka and Jakarta, they are no longer permitted on major roads, but are still used to provide transportation within individual urban neighborhoods.^{[citation needed]} They are banned entirely in Pakistan.^{[citation needed]} While they have been criticized for causing congestion, cycle rickshaws are also often hailed as environmentally-friendly, inexpensive modes of transportation.

In Taiwan, the Road Traffic Security Rules require pedicabs to be registered by their owners with the police before they can be legally driven on public roads, or risk an administrative fine of 300 new Taiwan dollars (TWD). Their drivers must carry the police registration documents or risk a fine of 180 TWD, but no driver license is required. The administrative fines are based on Articles 69 and 71 of the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road traffic Regulations. As Taiwanese road traffic is now heavily motorized, most pedicabs have been replaced by taxicabs, but they can still be found at limited places, such as Cijin District of Kaohsiung City.

Arts[link]

Trishaws are used to ferry tourists around the city for sightseeing in Singapore

As a key part of the urban landscape in many cities, cycle rickshaws have been the subject of films and other artwork, as well as being extensively decorated themselves. The cycle rickshaw in Dhaka is especially well known as a major medium for Bengali folk art, as plasticine cutouts and handpainted figures adorn many cycle rickshaws.^[20]

Films featuring cycle rickshaws and their drivers include Kickboxer and Sammo Hung's 1989 martial arts film Pedicab Driver, which dealt with a group of pedicab drivers and their problems with romance and organized crime. Cyclo, a 1995 film by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung, is centered on a cycle rickshaw driver. Tollywood films with cycle rickshaw themes include Orey Rickshaw ("Orey" literally means "Hey", in a derogatory tone), which tells a story sympathising with the downtrodden, and Rickshavodu ("Rickshaw Guy").

Men of Burden: Pedaling towards a Horizon (2006) is a documentary film on cycle rickshaw men in Pondicherry, India.

See also[link]

• George Bliss (pedicab designer)
• Workbike
• Freight bicycle
• Party Bike
• Trailer bike
• Bicycle trailer
• Utility cycling
• Boda-boda
• Tricycle
• Human-powered transport
• Quadracycle (human-powered vehicle)
• Tandem bicycle
• Bicycle
• Pulled rickshaw
• Cycle rickshaw art
• Taxicab
• Recording of a ride in a becak in Jakarta