Bicycle Powered Transport In Asia: Opportunities and Threats

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Bicycle Powered Transport In Asia Opportunities
and Threats
Aurora Fe Ables1 and Manuel Camagay2 1 Clean Air
Initiative for Asian Cities and 2 University of
the Philippines National Center for
Transportation Studies Better Air Quality
Workshop 2006 15 Dec 2006 Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia A CAI-Asia
Program
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Only the affluent can afford chauffeurs and
travel in style.
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Milestones

• The first human powered, 4-wheeled land vehicle
  came out in 1418, about 4,900 years after the
  Sumerians invented the wheel in Mesopotamia
• 1817, debut of Karl Drais 2-wheeled
  version named velocipede or Draisienne, in
  response to widespread horse slaughter and
  starvation
• 1890-mass production of bicycles led to
  widespread use in Europe, women started using
  them in large numbers

• 1970-Earth Day generated the growth of bicycle
  sales especially in school campuses
• 1978-continuous increase in oil prices led to
  more bicycle sales than motor vehicles in the US
  
• Source www.ibike.org

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The 3-wheeler NMT

• A cycle rickshaw or any similar 3-wheeled
  non-motorized transport (NMT) is a human powered
  vehicle for hire usually with one or two seats
  for carrying passengers in addition to the
  driver.

• Widely used as people transport in many parts of
  Asia.
• Simply driven like a bicycle but requires
  maneuvering and balancing skills for smooth ride.

• Largely replaced less-efficient rickshaws pulled
  by a person on foot.

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Variants Across the Region
Vietnam See-clo / Cyclo
India Cycle Rickshaw
Indonesia Becak
Bangladesh Cycle Rickshaw Myanmar Saika (from
Sidecar) Thailand Samlor Malaysia Tricycle
Rickshaw China Trishaw Cambodia Cyclo /
See-clo Mexico Bicitaxi
Singapore Tricycle Rickshaw
Philippines Pedicab / Traysikad
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Goods Movement

• 3-wheeler NMTs are not limited to transport
  people
• Even 2-wheeler NMTs can deliver
• They play a big role in the
• local/informal economy
• Usually unaccounted in the
• in the logistics picture

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Public transport

• integration of mass transit with cycling or
  pedestrianization through available
  infrastructure that help define road space and
  parking
• prevalence of segmented transport networks in
  Asia provide opportunities for cycle rickshaws to
  act as feeders both to mass transit and
  paratransit

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The Lure (?) of Motorization

• Many NMT cities are becoming motorized
• However, not all cities are ideal for fast speeds
  and motorized transport
• NMTs mostly thrive in the local marketplace where
  speed is not a necessity
• NMTs are relatively cheap and yet can support
  many households
• NMT do not require high maintenance cost due to
  simplicity
• More importantly, NMTs are eco-friendly

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• For the average passenger, it usually would not
  matter whether the cycle rickshaw service was
  legal or not as long as his needs for
• mobility,
• time savings, and
• relative comfort are met, and
• the costs are not considerable.

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Next steps

• The question now is whether we would like to
  maintain the status quo on cycle rickshaw use or
  propose possible recommendations to improve the
  level of service whether for recreation or for
  basic mobility
• better quantification/ registration system
• formalization of sector to
• protect the passengers and
• the drivers
• inclusion in transportation
• development plans

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• Thank you!