I remember my
first tuk-tuk ride in 1997 in Bangkok. I loved the no seatbelt, no frills, no windows
openness and exposure to everything that is going on around you. Tuk-tuk rides provide a
primal rush, and depending on your driver, are just a little bit scary. I
position them between motorcycles and cars on the adrenal spectrum. Yee-hah!
In recent weeks
I have seen new electrically-powered autorickshaws on the streets of Gurgaon.
What a great idea. The Indian government’s recent push to have new vehicle
sales be all-electric by 2030 seems to be have been kicked off with this e-auto
initiative. Our lungs thank them for the effort. So we will be able to have the
fun and adventure of riding in a tuk-tuk without adding to the hazy brown skies and
alarming particulate matter figures in India’s big cities.
I still love tuk-tuks,
in all their iterations throughout Asia, to this day. So let me gush a bit
about these three-wheeled meisters of mobility and add a few anecdotes.
Described as tuk-tuks
by Thais, autorickhaws (or just plain “autos”) by Indians, and with other local
tags in other countries, they are basically people movers: no-nonsense ways for
average people on a budget to get move from point A to point B. Autorickshaws are
made to shuttle people around in urban areas which usually have tight, narrow
streets and – these days – immense traffic jams.
Quick, yes. (Maneuverability
in the traffic snarls is a bonus.)
Safe, no. Not
really. (But to repeat what I wrote above, that’s part of their allure.)
Cute,
absolutely.
And they enhance
your cultural knowledge because you usually have to bargain with the driver to
figure out a price before you get in. (No set price = you will get screwed,
big-time.)
Environmentally
friendly? (Debatable.)
Presumably
tuk-tuks are so named so because of the sound their two-stroke gas engines
make. In India, many of the autos have converted to natural gas, which
generates an off-putting pervasive fart smell whenever a driver pulls in to top
off his CNG tank. (And yes, there are no women drivers that I have ever seen
anywhere.) But they all emit CO2 gas, which leads me to…e-autorickshaws!
Here are a few
photos of the popular forms of mobility in my current city.
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| The family that rides together, stays together |
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| Old school, baby! |
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| The black-colored autos are designated routes that people use instead of public buses. Very cheap. |
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