DESIGN DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDIGENOUS TRICYCLE RICKSHAW Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Amarendra Kumar Das Department of Design INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GUWAHATI Guwahati-781039 November 2007 0 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDIGENOUS TRICYCLE RICKSHAW Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Amarendra Kumar Das 994802 Under supervision of Debkumar Chakrabarti, Ph D Department of Design INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GUWAHATI Guwahati-781039 November 2007 TH-0529_994802 1 Certificate 30 th November 2007 The research work presented in this thesis entitled ‘Design Development of an Indigenous Tricycle Rickshaw’ has been carried out under my supervision and is a bonafide work of Mr. Amarendra Kumar Das. This work submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is original and has not been submitted for any other degree or diploma to this institute or to any other institute or university. He has also fulfilled all the requirements including mandatory coursework as per the rules and regulations for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. Debkumar Chakrabarti, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Design Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Guwahati 781 039 Asom, India TH-0529_994802 2 Acknowledgement I express my sincere gratitude to all those people who helped me during the present research work and acknowledge the support received from various institutions, therefore I dedicate my works to all of them. Although it is impossible to name all people and institutions involved in this endeavor without missing some of them inadvertently, I would like to mention a few specifically. Prof. S Nadkarni, former and founder head of Department of Design, Prof. Gautam Barua, Prof. A D Sahasrabudhe, Prof. U S Dixit, Prof. M K Choudhury and Prof. S C Mishra of IIT Guwahati are some of them who have helped me in many ways including academic suggestions and providing administrative facilities. My supervisor, Dr. Debkumar Chakrabarti, specifically for his enormous patience for all these long years during which research was undertaken and during the period the work was compiled as a written document under his guidance. I express my hearty appreciation for this. Many other individuals encouraged me in this academic endeavor. Various institutions that supported the work in different capacities are: North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFI), Guwahati funded the development expenditures of the interim model of Dipbahan (the tricycle rickshaw that was designed, developed and technology for its manufacturing was transferred to SMEs under this research work was branded as Dipbahan) and continued support for further work. NEDFi also introduced Dipbahan + through their Micro Credit scheme in Agartala in Tripura and Imphal in Manipur. Centre for Rural Development (CRD), Guwahati participated in the design development of Dipbahan, manufactured it and introduced this through the Rickshaw Bank Micro Credit scheme. Indian Jute Industries’ Research Association (IJIRA), Kolkata, under Ministry of Textiles, Government of India sponsored the design development of Jute Composite based components used in the Dipbahan +. National Associates, Guwahati associated in development of composite components for the Dipbahan + and it’s derivatives like Dibahan Pariskar and Dipbahan Ankur. Tim Steel Innovatives, Guwahati for participated and sponsored the design development expenditure for the 2 nd generation Dipbahan and it’s derivatives like Dibahan Pariskar and Dipbahan Ankur. M/s Tim Steel Innovatives manufactured Dipbahan + and this made possible for its introduction in various other states. West Bengal State Marketing Board spearheaded introduction of Dipbahan + in the state of West Bengal which in turn encourages the work to fine tune. Xuoni Axom, an NGO of Dispur, Guwahati for undertook the trial of Dipbahan Pariskar for implementing solid waste garbage collection from households and it’s disposal as a TH-0529_994802 3 economically viable proposition and as means of income generation for unemployed youth using Dipbahan Pariskar. I sincerely acknowledge the supports of all the above institutions and persons involved in this endeavor. Another set of persons always stood next to me and helped me in execution and prototyping of Dipbahan. They are my colleagues and staffs of Department of Design, IIT Guwahati and deserve my whole hearted acknowledgement without mentioning them individually. Summer trainees that worked with me during prototyping of Dipbahan also deserve thanks. The finest feedback was only available from the persons who actually used the interim version of Dipbahan to refine it to final stage i.e. Dipbahan +. Thus users of Dipbahan and its variations, both the pullers and the passengers deserve special mention. It is them that made Dipbahan successful on road. Introduction of Dipbahan was made possible by those individuals that produced it smoothly once technology and process of its manufacture was evolved with their participation. I sincerely acknowledge their contribution. I must sincerely admit that the research work became productive due to the fact that my wife – Kaberi and my kids – Ruchi and Roni had borne all the hardship by allowing me to be free to work unhindered. Their support would remain an inspiration for me for ever… Das A K TH-0529_994802 4 Abstract The localised issues of meeting transportation needs of vast masses of population that can not afford a personal vehicle and to meet the limitations of public transportation systems needs consideration for alternative viable means that are contextual. Human powered tricycle rickshaw still fulfills this need. In addition to this, there are variations based on tricycles used as delivery vans with boxy storage compartments, goods carrier and school children van to name a few that are put to use to fulfill the localized transportation need. The current practice for meeting the localized transportation needs of the population is varied and is dependant on the region, cultural, economic, geographical locations and the local administration. However to meet local transportation needs for transporting various goods, tricycle based vehicles are extensively used. There are various advantages associated with these vehicles (Rajvanshi, 2002). These are: Non-polluting modes of transportation (air pollution, noise pollution etc.) Cost effectiveness with increasing fuel prices for short distances. Provides for income generation for the vast unemployed youths of the country. Lower cost of capital for each vehicle and each employment generated. Load on road infrastructure is less. The best strategy for containing the vehicular pollution is through HPV (Human Powered Vehicles) (Ballantine and Grant, 1998) like tricycle/Trike/Rickshaws are not given due importance because of people’s perception (http://www.itdp.com, http://www.sustrans. org.uk, Dec 2006) about these mode of transport as slow moving, low grade, low-tech, unsafe product and associated status of rickshaw as a mode of transport used by poor people (Wheeler, 1998). In comparison to motorized vehicle development, not much research in this field has been carried out to improve these. This mind set leads to a tendency on part of the population in growing cities of developing countries to disband these vehicles from cities (http://list.jca.apc.org /public/sustran-discuss, Dec, 2006) and urban areas attributing the increased vehicular pollution in these areas to these vehicles due to slow moving nature and for creating traffic snarl (http://www.sustrans. org.uk, Dec, 2006). Although HPVs can never be substitute for present day automobiles for long distance travel, it is a very good mode of local transport within residential localities in case of short distance from main road served by other public transport such as bus, local train or metro routes. Common people’s perception (http://www.johost.eu, Sept, 2006) regarding the existing varieties of tricycle rickshaw is of poor quality, aesthetics, ergonomics as well as safety from the point of view of passenger and rider i.e. rickshaw puller. i. Poor quality attributed to current practice of assembly of tricycle rickshaw out of factory made parts along with locally made body in a cottage industry. ii. Rickshaw’s existing form not being contemporary does not appeal to many. iii. Ergonomic aspect- for passengers and for the puller. TH-0529_994802 0 iv. Safety associated with existing traditional rickshaw in present road condition where both the puller and the passengers are fully exposed to other vehicles on road and are not protected from moving vehicles. It is confirmed that there is a need to design a new tricycle rickshaw to be used as a means of localized transportation that can also initiate change in the people’s perception about the traditional rickshaw with its conventional look and initiate philosophical change in our attitude for meeting the need through environment friendly and sustainable way. The second aspect is the transfer of design and technology developed to the actual users and manufacturer. Many institutions in India have developed new and improved technologies. In spite of much effort done by various agencies for design and technology transfer, development as expected has not taken place. One factor that is hindering dissemination and transfer of technology may well have been