THE FIRST auto-rickshaw

Rickshaws have been part of the transport scene of Ahmedabad for as long as anyone can remember.

In the beginning, it was the high-hooded carriage on two large wheels drawn by a man bent low, a contraption that showed no regard for human dignity. The toil became a little less humiliating when, with the progress of technology, cycle rickshaws arrived on the scene: seated and pedaling away, the rickshawallah no longer looked a crouched beast of burden.

Soon after Independence, Bombay State banned the cycle rickshaw on humanitarian grounds. (This three-wheeler, however, survives to this day in Ahmedabad and many other Cities and towns as the poor man's transport.)

The Bombay ban was a challenge to the innovative. And it made cycle-rickshaw owner Vishnukumar Joshi, a pioneer; he imported a 1.25 HP motor cycle engine and fitted it to his cycle rickshaw. This was the first automotive three-wheeler to ply on Ahmedabad streets. That was in 1948.

Vishnukumar's auto-rickshaw proved an instant success. It was a wonderful, fast-moving vehicle for two passengers. Pedestrians envied the "autoset" and curious people crowded round the vehicle wherever it was parked. To the owner and the driver, the auto proved more profitable than the pedal rickshaw. An auto-rickshaw fetched a hire of Rs. 15 for 24 hours' or Rs. 9 for the day and Rs. 8 for the night.

Success spurred Vishnukumar to turn an auto manufacturer. He imported several motorbike engines and started converting cycle rickshaws into autos. By the end of 1948 at least 25 such vehicles were registered with the Ahmedabad RTO. Each was sold at Rs. 1,800.

As the novelty wore off the operators found Vishnukumar's auto quite expensive to maintain. The power and weight of the engine proved too much for the wheels and frame designed to take the strain of pedalling. The tyres wore off fast and the wheels, frame and handle bar needed frequent repairs or replacements. There were also difficulties while driving it for there were no gears to regulate transmission. The need for a more efficient vehicle was clearly felt.

The auto-rickshaw as we know it today was first brought to Ahmedabad in 1950. It was 'discovered' in a Bombay showroom by Mr. Siddhumal who then had an auto spare parts shop near Raipur Gate. It was made in Italy.

Convinced that this was just the public transport that Ahmedabad needed Siddhumal bought it for Rs. 4,000 and put it on the road. Infinitely better than its predecessor, the imported auto soon drove the Vishnukumar brand out of Ahmedabad roads. In the first year of its introduction, 150 imported autos were registered with the RTO in Ahmedabad.

The imported auto-rickshaws had a canopy-like hood and was uncovered on the sides; it provided little protection to the driver or passengers. It had foot-gears, but its lights were weak making night driving difficult.

The next stage of evolution came in 1957 when autos with a closed body were introduced. The driver and passengers were adequately protected now. These autos had an easily gripped lever on the handle-bar to operate the clutch and gear, foot-brakes and better headlamps.

As industrialisation and import substitution gained momentum, a collaboration agreement was signed with Piaggio Corporation of Italy by the Bajaj group who came out with the first Poone-made modern auto-rickshaw in 1961. The Bajaj auto-rickshaw cost Rs. 6,000.

The manufacture of autos in Pune gave a big boost to the auto trade in the city. From 510 in 1961 their number more than doubled to 1141 in 1963 and to 1600 in 1965. In the next two years it again doubled to touch the 3,000 mark. In the beginning of 1970 there were 4,000 autos; this more than doubled by 1976. Today there are an estimated 15,000 autos in the city.

Most of the autos now on the road are 1971 or later models. The older ones are uneconomical, and the RTO does not register an auto which is more than four years old. The older vehicles usually get sold to users in the smaller towns.

In the earlier days, auto fares were fixed through bargaining and varied according to the need of the passenger and the mood of the driver. Fares were first regulated in 1950 fixing not the rate per mile but mentioning the amount between two specified places. It roughly worked out to six annas a mile.

It was in 1963 that a fare structure based on the actual distance covered was introduced. The rate was 20 paise per kilometer. The fare has since been revised many times the last one in October this year. The prevailing rates (with petrol price at Rs. 4.54 a litre) are 70 paise per kilometer with a minimum fare of Rs. 1.05.

There are an estimated 30,000 licensed auto drivers in Ahmedabad of whom 25,000 depend entirely on this trade for a living. They have their own problems and seek to solve them through one of three well organised unions-Autorickshaw Drivers' Union, Autorickshaw Chalak Union and Auto-rickshaw Kamdar Union.

Three co-operative societies-the Autorickshaw Co-operative Society, Vahanvahak Sahakari Mandali and Gujarat Drivers Co-operative Society -look after their credit needs; the societies give loans for the purchase of vehicles and to meet contingencies.

A common complaint of auto drivers is that they are harassed by the police for parking the vehicle in no-parking areas. The grievance is that there are not enough parking lots for autos in the city.

Auto men would like a further increase in fares considering the rising cost of petrol and spares and the increase in their carrying capacity from two to three. At night trips to far-off places often prove expensive and hazardous.

Professional hazards include exposure to exhaust fumes and noise pollution and accidents caused by the instability of the three-wheeler.

Auto drivers say that the phenomenal increase in the number of autos has considerably reduced the earnings of each of them. Now they do many more kilometres of empty run than they had to ever before. From this flows the demand for stopping the licensing of more autos.

Social status and the rickshaw driver
A comment from Bhikhubha Gohel

The way Ahmedabad streets arc cluttered with autorickshaws one almost gets the impression that they are as much a part of the fabric of the city as the mill chimneys, the gates and the 'pols'. And indeed they are. The day the autorickshaw drivers went on strike recently, the roads felt so strange one got the impression of being in another city. Can Ahmedabad be without its rickshaws? And yet it was barely 31 years ago that the first auto plied the streets of the city.
Bhikhubha Gohel, badge no :3256, drove the first autorickshaw on July 17, 1948.

Cycle rickshaws had been banned in Bombay state immediately after independence. Bhikhubha was working for Vishnukumar Joshi, the owner of a workshop where cycle rickshaws were made. The ban put the workshop in a quandary. But not to be beaten by the new circumstances they immediately started working on a motorized version of the cycle rickshaw and soon started assembling the first indigenous auto-rickshaws.

"Many people rode it just for curiosity", reminisces Bhikhuba. "I used to collect a rupee and a half or two rupees for a ride from Krishna Cinema to the station."

We asked Bhikhubha, the first driver of what has become one of the main transport nerves of the city, about life as an autorickshaw driver.

"People treat autorickshaw drivers very badly". Twenty five years ago when he got married he discovered no one would rent him a tenement. "Nobody wanted a rickshawallah as a neighbour".

"Aren't we engaged in an honest trade ?" he would argue but to no avail. Relatives tried to hide the fact, neighbours would not recognise him in public. "At social functions like marriages, you know the rickshawalla is literally shunned! Come to think of it, the very way in which people call us 'rickshawalla' is revolting. The contemptuous tone hurts." And yet, recalls Bhikhubha, it was those very same people who would greet him eagerly when they wanted a free ride.

As his daughter grew older the anxiety for social status started telling on the family. "Who would want to marry a rickshawalla's daughter ?"

Bhikhubha is no social reformer interested in fighting social hypocrisy. In 1968, he changed his job and donned the uniform of a motor car driver. The transformation was quick and visible iii the attitude of others towards him. "You know, now I'm somebody as an employee of Calico Mills", Bhikhubha chuckles. He no longer feels avoided in society and enjoys economic security.

Whatever the future holds for the family, Bhikhubha's wife is emphatic on one point: "My -son, who has an auto license and can repair three-wheelers, is not going to be a rickshawalla!"