The Auto-rickshaw and its role as a sustainable transport system

Introduction

It was around the 19th century when the rickshaw was introduced in India. Inspired by the Japanese and Chinese nations, the rickshaw became popular as a cheap means of transport and goods carrier. Since becoming a rickshaw driver was the first job easily available for peasants migrating to new cities, it quickly became a key form of livelihood. Through the years, the human-aided rickshaw was slowly eradicated as a form of transport and with the rise of automobile industrialization, we saw new forms of motorized commercial transport systems being introduced. The auto-rickshaw was one of them.

From auto in India, tuk-tuk in Indonesia, tempo in Thailand, bajaji in Madagascar, to Tukxi in Italy — the three-wheeler auto rickshaw is known by many names (1). The birth of the auto came through the development of the Piaggio Ape that was manufactured by Piaggio in Italy in the 1950’s as an affordable utility vehicle (2). While the Ape was received as a goods carrier in European countries, it was transformed into a public transport vehicle in Asian nations. In the 1960’s Bajaj, an Indian automobile corporation won the license to produce and manufacture the Ape into an Intermediate Public Transport or IPT in India (3). Over the years, Bajaj became the world’s leading producer of the auto. Slowly, the auto…