Rickshaw Projects (NCIIA Open Minds)

Cycle rickshaws are three-wheeled vehicles where passengers sit in the rear while the driver pedals in front. Over eight million cycle rickshaws are pedaled in India each day, but most drivers are too poor to own the rickshaws they ride. Instead, they rent them daily for a significant fraction of their income.

The Rickshaw Bank is an Indian nonprofit that challenges this model. It makes its own rickshaws with several improvements over traditional designs, such as extending the canopy to cover the driver. Instead of renting, drivers pay on an installment plan: they make the same daily payments as before, but after about a year have gained ownership of the rickshaw.

Our team is working to further improve the lives of rickshaw drivers. Within the extreme cost constraint of $230 per rickshaw we have made a number of incremental improvements to the current model's efficiency and safety, including an emergency rear braking system and a redesigned frame that weighs fifteen pounds less. Ongoing projects include a gearing system (current rickshaws are single-speed), a luggage rack for passengers, and head- and tail-lights. We are also working on more radical changes, such as the addition of an electric assist with regenerative braking.

The number of rickshaws the Rickshaw Bank has produced is approaching ten thousand. Whether incremental or radical, any improvements we make improve the lives of many, and in the marketplace even a small improvement gives the Rickshaw Bank an advantage which may drive others to follow its model.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• rickshaw
• assam
• nciia
• open minds

[inglese66]

Excellent project! Rickshaw bikes, especially with electric assist, could be and should be the new, clean method of short-haul, family transport.

[loksatta123]

I like your approach it will help at least a million or more Rickshaw pullers in India

[loksatta123]

Very nice project. Keep up the good work.