<b>Subir Roy:</b> Whimsical road transport regulations

Rajiv Bajaj lashes out at Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motor and TVS Motor for opposing quadricycle

The regulation of motorised transport in India remains whimsical, doing no good to the credibility of the regulators. Rajiv Bajaj, in his usually forthright manner, has again drawn attention to the way approval to ply the quadricycle on Indian roads like any other four-wheeler continues to be denied. This is when the quadricycle, brand named Qute, is now being exported to as many as 20 countries, including Turkey, Finland, Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia, Thailand, UAE, the US and Russia.

Mr Bajaj has squarely blamed his competitors – Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motor and TVS Motor – of ganging up against him and taken on R C Bhargava, the Maruti Suzuki chairman. “Bhargava says he has no problem with quadricycles being used as taxis because that won’t affect Maruti Suzuki. If you travel on a quadricycle as a passenger, that’s okay; but if you own one you cannot travel because the same vehicle becomes unsafe.”

Those opposing the innovative product, say that by adding a fourth wheel perceptions will change and speeding and overloading will be rampant. Also on being able to sell in Europe, they say that there the quadricycle is allowed to be used for recreation and leisure, and by old people and those too young to get a regular licence to drive a car. Yet another point, raised by the critics, is that it is not a good idea to keep putting more cars on the road but strengthen public transport. This is quite true but there is no control on car manufacturers putting more and more cars on the road.

The quadricycle will move slower than cars and be more fuel efficient. That will make it both safer on urban roads and less polluting. The point is that the quadricycle is a good innovative product and those who have invested money, effort and ingenuity should be allowed to put their product on the market and try their luck.

The problem with regulation has again been thrown up by the way the law governing e-rickshaws has evolved. The cardinal point about e-rickshaws is that they are non-polluting and travel much slower than auto-rickshaws and so should be promoted in a big way to curb auto pollution and road accident risk in Indian cities. Logically, auto-rickshaws should be phased out and replaced by e-rickshaws. Initially e-rickshaws were unregulated in India until the Delhi High Court banned their plying in 2014. Then Nitin Gadkari, the Union road transport minister, spelt out a detailed plan for regulating them but this did not get off the ground. 

Next year, Parliament passed a law legalising e-rickshaws and they have now come to ply in many cities with registration number plates and covered by insurance. The point is that the transport regulator did not act until the courts ordered action. This is the same sequence – courts move, regulators follow – which forced public transport in Delhi to switch to gas as fuel, leading to a perceptible improvement in air quality. 

The law also takes away with one hand what it gives with another. Last year, the Ministry of Road Transport freed e-rickshaws and e-carts from the need to obtain permits in order to operate. But the reality on the ground (you have to register as an e-rickshaw to be out of regulation) still involves paperwork and queuing up. The notification also allowed state governments to use appropriate traffic rules to regulate plying of these vehicles in specific areas or specific roads. Powers have been devolved on municipal corporations to regulate e-rickshaws. Use of e-rickshaws also varies from state to state. They had an early start in Tripura. In urban areas outside Kolkata they are being widely used but are not to be seen in the city.

We have seen two systems of regulation in the first of which the regulator has allowed its hands to be tied by corporate rivalry and in the second regulation has come but some regulatory hassles remain. Now let us come to a mode of transport which is innovative to the core, responds to felt needs and is totally unregulated, with vehicles not bearing any number plates. It is a mechanised van rickshaw sometimes called “Vano” which has been plying in peri-urban areas and also along rural roads for a decade or more. 

A wooden platform is mounted on two wheels of a motorbike. It is quite sturdy and can easily seat eight people or more. According to Atanu Dutta (2013), it is powered by a crude engine which could be taken from a Chinese-made agricultural pumpset. It runs on diesel and given the quality of the engine, belches smoke and makes an enormous amount of noise. The fuel tank is taken from a bike. What is most important and makes the contraption dangerous is it has no proper breaking system and uses a belt mechanism to reduce the speed of the rear wheels. There is no breaking system for the front wheels. It can only stop by running itself down, again with a lot of screeching. 

Low cost makes this mode of transport popular. It is ideal for poor people living at the edge of town who have to go to town. But the absence of regulation and laid down specifications create accident risk and make the vehicles highly polluting. In 2014, a court order banned these vehicles but they continue to operate unhindered. According to one estimate, 200,000 people in West Bengal earn their livelihood from these Vanos. 
 

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