Rickshaws, Friend or Foe?

By now, you have all learned of my enmity to toward taxis and their driver’s unending efforts to cheat foreigners. Thankfully, there is an alternative to taxis in Mumbai, the mighty auto-rickshaw. Auto-rickshaws are three wheeled vehicles with a moped like cockpit and steering mechanism in the front and a bench for passengers in the rear. They are charmingly underpowered with a zero to thirty in about 5 minutes and significant risk of not being able to put-put their way up a highway overpass. Their open-sided design means that you are exposed to the world, for better or worse. Honking horns sound louder; putrid smells are more offensive; and when stopped at a light or in traffic you are fully at the mercy of the women and children beggars who will aggressive plead their case and paw at you until they figure out that you are not in fact the Rupee dispensing machine that they believe all foreigners to be.

Despite all their obvious shortcomings, I love these little underdogs of the road. They are cheap, space and fuel efficient, operate by an accurate meter and their drivers are for the most part honest and deal fairly with tourists and locals alike.

• Cheap: A 10km rickshaw ride will run you about 100 Rupees ($2USD). Except on my normal 10 rupee ride from train station to compound, I usually voluntarily over pay the guys by 25-50% making clear that I am tipping them for good service.


• Efficient: Rickshaws are very fuel efficient, similar to a moped a few gallons will last you a very long time. Rickshaws are also space efficient, you almost fit two ricks into a single lane, not that lanes really exist here or if the did that people would abide by them.


• Metered: Rickshaw drivers use a meter which displays the price of your ride minus one Rupee. This a far less complicated and transparent system than the taxis which use a “rate card” to translate the price on the meter, which has not been calibrated in 10 years, to an actual price.


• Honest: Rickshaw drivers, for the most part, accept the determination of the meter and don’t try to extract a tourist premium. While I am inclined to believe this stems from the goodness of their heart, an alternate theory is that it stems from the fact that they are less experienced in the tourist manipulation game. You see rickshaws are not allowed to operate south of the Mahim Creek in Mumbai, which prevents them from plying their trade in the major tourist areas of Colaba and Churchgate. Since they serve mostly a local population, fair dealing is their modus operandi and extends to foreign passengers as well.

All in all, rickshaws are without a doubt friends and allies in the everyday struggle to get around in Mumbai. Despite their humble appearance their fair dealing distinguishes them as truly titans of the road in an otherwise treacherous transportation landscape.