Auto-Rickshaw 101 Or The Nasty Habit of Surviving

The number one question we are asked relating to this trip is: What is a rickshaw? The funny thing is if you have never seen or heard of a rickshaw, they are really difficult to describe. So, with a little help from Google and The Adventurists I will do my best to explain them here.

Auto Rickshaws are used all over the world, although are known by many other names. Most commonly rickshaws, tuk-tuks, tempos, and autoricks. This is a typical Indian auto-rickshaw taxi:

They are three wheeled vehicles, wrapped in a sheet metal. It has an open frame with a canvas roof that has drop down panels on the sides. It runs off a single cylinder, 2-stroke engine with a maximum horsepower of seven - yes seven. Seven horsepower engines power lots of things we are familiar with: snowblowers, children's go-karts, push mowers, things that make a tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk noise whenever they are idling.

They have an average cruising speed of around 22mph and can make it over 30 mph if we are cruising downhill! In the hectic Indian traffic, the rickshaw is the bottom of the barrel; slower than nearly all other modes of transportation on the road.

Do you think the rickshaw could overtake him?

Typically used for urban transport, these beastly vehicles are prone to instability, breakdowns, and general unreliability when pushed for long distance travel (at this point you can refer to my first blog post where I shared with you all that we will be driving these suckers 2,700 km). They are designed to sit up to four people, including the driver. Although it is extremely common for many, many more people to squeeze inside. At this point, our rickshaw crew will consist of a driver and a passenger, and all of our supplies. As we get closer to the trip I will give you a list of the things we are bringing along, but at this point we haven't thought much about it.

Are you reading this and really thinking we have gotten in over our heads? Well, we feel these humble vehicles are just the answer to slowing life down a little bit and getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Besides, James Bond's auto-rick sure served him well in Octopussy!