You can soon hail e-rickshaws in MMR

Commuters in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will soon be able to ride battery-operated, eco-friendly e-rickshaws. The state transport authority (STA), chaired

Commuters in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will soon be able to ride battery-operated, eco-friendly e-rickshaws. The state transport authority (STA), chaired by transport secretary Ashishkumar Singh, has given permission for registration of e-rickshaws in MMR.

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The move comes three years after the state government permitted the operation of e-rickshaws in Maharashtra in September 2016, excluding MMR to avoid traffic chaos owing to the limited speed of the vehicles.

The fare structure of regular autos will apply to e-rickshaws, which do not emit noise or pollutants. Like regular autos, they will have to be painted in the black-and-yellow colour scheme and will come under the purview of the same terms and conditions.

Like autos and quadricycles, which were allowed in MMR recently, e-rickshaws will not be permitted to run in the island city, between Colaba and Sion and Colaba and Mahim.

Currently, the STA has allowed only two models of e-rickshaws of a leading automobile company to operate on the roads. According to transport department officials, the two models have a maximum speed of 45kmph.

E-rickshaws have a seating capacity of five, including the driver, unlike regular autos which can carry three passengers. Auto unions might oppose these battery-run vehicles owing to the greater passenger-carrying capacity. Though experts have welcomed the move, they are sceptical about the popularity of e-rickshaws owing to lack of charging infrastructure.

“Mumbai lacks charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and these vehicles need at least a few hours to get fully charged,” said AV Shenoy, transport expert.

Currently, Mumbai has around 2.12 lakh auto rickshaws and there are 4.5 lakh autos in MMR.