Pune corporator’s e-rickshaw initiative a failure in Aundh
As against seven e-rickshaws that were seen plying throughout the day in Aundh in early 2017, there is just a lone e-rickshaw plying now
A community e-rickshaw initiative undertaken by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Archana Musale and her husband Madhukar in 2015 in Aundh-Baner area, has suffered a disastrous failure much to the disappointment of area residents.
As against seven e-rickshaws that were seen plying throughout the day in Aundh in early 2017, there is just a lone e-rickshaw plying now.
The service was launched with five e-rickshaws in 2015 and was tremendously popular in the Aundh area, which was availed by senior citizens and others to commute to neighbourhood. The e-rickshaws would move at a relatively slow speed through the inner lanes of Aundh, picking up passengers on the way and charging a nominal ₹10 per ride. After the service became extremely popular among masses two more e-rickshaws were added.
In an interview, last September Madhukar Musale, who is also active in politics, had said, “I first saw the use of e-rickshaws during a visit to Delhi. There they used it for commuting in most of the areas in Old Delhi or near the station and I was quite amazed that it cost very little to travel.”
He thus decided to purchase the e-rickshaws which cost him ₹1.5 lakh each, including transportation to Pune from Delhi. He noted that there was “a huge demand from local citizens, especially senior citizens and women, who had complained against the regular auto rickshaw drivers who were rude, refused short- distance travel and charged exorbitant rates of almost ₹50 as compared to ₹18 per kilometre according to RTO rules. Residents complained often during society meetings and many had requested a solution.”
Today, however, there is just one e-rickshaw that plies intermittently in the area. Bopodi resident Anuja Shah who was among those who regularly used the e-rickshaw said the absence of the service has been felt acutely by senior citizens like her. She is now forced to take a six-seater rickshaw from Bremen chowk which is very inconvenient. “The chassis of a six-seater is too high for me to get in and getting a regular rickshaw from Bopodi is way too expensive as no one wants to come by metre,” said Shah.
There are others like her who would like to have this service back in action. At present, there is only one e-rickshaw on the road.
Dada Jagtap who drives the lone e-rickshaw which shows signs of being overused said he needs to recharge the battery after three rounds in Aundh. “The battery of the e-rickshaw has now become weak. When it was introduced it was very powerful.” He now runs his e-rickshaw only for a limited duration during the day.
“I have regular customers mostly from Sanewadi, Medipoint, Nagras road and also the new DP road near Sai Heritage. They call me on my mobile phone and I give them an estimated time of arrival,” he said.
Musale said although he would have liked all his e-rickshaws on the road, some of them are in need of new parts and battery. “The battery costs a lot and it is difficult to procure a good one here since I picked up my e-rickshaws from Delhi. I have to pay more than ₹35,000 per month per rickshaw for maintenance now. But looking at the demand, I will restart this transport again,” he promised.
In 2016, another aspirant during the municipal elections, Nana Walke, had launched a similar service with 10 e-rickshaws but had to stop the service as the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and Pune municipal corporation (PMC) objected saying he needed permission to ply them on the roads at the time. These e-rickshaws also made a brief appearance in areas like Balewadi, Kothrud, Pashan and Bavdhan.
E-rickshaws a solution to Baner-Pashan link road residents’ travel woes
“Baner-Pashan link road area has very poor public transport connectivity and residents do not prefer the regular rickshaws due to high fares, unavailability and refusal to ply short distances. We feel e-rickshaws can be an ideal mobility solution if they are governed by a new set of rules which addresses these issues. Affordable fares like those implemented by Delhi metro e-rickshaw service of ₹10 for the first 2 km and ₹5 for subsequent km if replicated in Pune will immensely help in converting people in favour of public transport. Pune smart city along with RTO and e-rickshaw manufacturers can implement a joint services-based model where advertisements on rickshaws, booking fee surcharge on mobile app etc can be revenue streams for them to manage and run the system effectively,” said Ravindra Sinha, Secretary, Baner Pashan link road Vikas Samitee.
