{{Short description|Two- or three-wheeled passenger cart}} {{Other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} [[File:JapaneseRickshaw.jpg|thumb|Pulled rickshaws in Japan <small>({{circa|1897}})</small>]]
'''Rickshaw''' originally denoted a pulled rickshaw, a two- or three-wheeled cart generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term in English was in 1879.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rickshaw |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rickshaw |work=Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster, Incorporated |access-date=10 April 2013}}</ref> Over time, cycle rickshaws (also known as pedicabs or trishaws), auto rickshaws, and electric rickshaws were invented, and have replaced the original pulled rickshaws, with a few exceptions for their use in tourism.
Pulled rickshaws created a popular form of transportation and a source of employment for male labourers within Asian cities in the 19th century. Their appearance was related to newly acquired knowledge of ball-bearing systems. Their popularity declined as cars, trains, and other forms of transportation became widely available.
Auto rickshaws are becoming more popular in some cities in the 21st century as an alternative to taxis because of their low cost of hire. Bangladesh holds the record of hosting highest number of rickshaws in the world with 40,000 rickshaws operating in the capital Dhaka alone every day.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Molla |first=Mohammad Al-Masum |date=2019-07-07 |title=Ban on rickshaw: How logical is it? |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/politics/news/ban-rickshaw-how-logical-it-1767535 |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=The Daily Star |language=en}}</ref> In 2023, UNESCO listed rickshaws and rickshaw art as 'intangible heritage' of Bangladesh.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Report |first=Star Digital |date=2023-12-06 |title=Unesco lists rickshaws and rickshaw art as 'intangible heritage' |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/culture/news/unesco-lists-rickshaws-and-rickshaw-art-intangible-heritage-3487581 |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=The Daily Star |language=en}}</ref>
{{anchor|Etymology|Names}}
==Name== ''Rickshaw'' originates from the Japanese word ''jinrikisha'' ({{lang|ja|人力車}}, {{lang|ja|人}} ''jin'' = human, {{lang|ja|力}} ''riki'' = power or force, {{lang|ja|車}} ''sha'' = vehicle), which literally means "human-powered vehicle".<ref>{{cite book|last=Chamberlain|first=Basil Hall|title=Things Japanese: being notes on various subjects connected with Japan for the use of travellers and others|year=1891|publisher=K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/thingsjapaneseb03chamgoog/page/n255 241]–242|url=https://archive.org/details/thingsjapaneseb03chamgoog}}</ref>
==History==
===Origin=== The first rickshaws were invented in France in the late 17th century, to fulfill, along with other types of carriages such as cabriolets and fiacres, the unmet demand for public transportation created by the 1679 cessation of Paris' first omnibus service. These vehicles, called "vinaigrettes" for their resemblance to the handcarts used by contemporary vinegar-sellers,<ref>{{cite web |title=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110815172238825 |access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref> were fully-enclosed two-wheeled carriages with space for a single person. Usually, they were moved by two people; one holding the bars at the front and the other pushing from behind.<ref name="mb">Mellot and Blancart (2006), p. 7.</ref>
A painting named "Les deux carrosses" by Claude Gillot shows 2 rickshaws in 1707.
Rickshaws were independently invented in Japan circa 1869,<ref name="Lu p. 348" /><ref name="Warren p. 14" /> after the lifting of a ban on wheeled vehicles from the Tokugawa period (1603–1868),<ref>{{cite book | title=Japan | publisher=Lonely Planet | author=Chris Rowthorn | year=2007 | pages=44 | isbn=978-1741046670 | editor=Chris Rowthorn | edition=10}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Travel Guide books are not reliable sources for history|date=November 2024}} and at the beginning of a period of rapid technical advancement in Japan.<ref name="Warren p. 14">{{cite book | title=Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 | publisher=NUS Press | author=James Francis Warren | pages=[https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/14 14] | isbn=978-9971692667 | year=2003 | url=https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/14 }}</ref><ref name="Diefendorf">{{cite book | title=Amazing . . . But False!: Hundreds of "Facts" You Thought Were True, But Aren't | publisher=Sterling Publishing Company | author=David Diefendorf | year=2007 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/amazingbutfalseh0000dief/page/223 223] | isbn=978-1402737916 | url=https://archive.org/details/amazingbutfalseh0000dief/page/223 }}</ref>
====Inventor==== There are many theories about the inventor, with the most likely and widely accepted theory describing the rickshaw as having been invented in Japan in 1869,<ref name="Warren p. 14" /> by Izumi Yosuke,<ref>{{cite book | title=Critical Mass: bicycling's defiant celebration | publisher=AK Press | author=Chris Carlsson | year=2002 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/criticalmassbicy0000unse/page/170 170] | isbn=978-1902593593 | url=https://archive.org/details/criticalmassbicy0000unse/page/170 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide Series: Tokyo | publisher=Penguin |author1=DK Publishing |author2=Stephen Mansfield | year=2009 | pages=84 | isbn=978-0756653675}}</ref> who formed a partnership with Suzuki Tokujiro and Takayama Kosuke to build the vehicles,<ref name="Frédéric p. 424">{{cite book | title=Japan enciklopedia | publisher=Harvard University Press | author=Louis Frédéric | year=2002 | pages=424 | isbn=978-0674017535 | others=Käthe Roth (translator) }}</ref> having been "inspired by the horse carriages that had been introduced to the streets of Tokyo a few years earlier".<ref name="De Mente p. 94">{{cite book | title=The Bizarre and the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun! | publisher=Cultural-Insight Books | author=Boye De Mente | year=2010 | isbn=978-1456424756 | editor=Demetra De Ment | pages=94 }}</ref>
Other theories about the inventor of the rickshaw include: * Reverend Jonathan Goble (sometimes called Jonathan Scobie), an American Free Baptist minister and missionary to Japan, is said to have invented the rickshaw around 1869 to transport his invalid wife through the streets of Yokohama.<ref name="Diefendorf" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Jonathan Goble of Japan |last=Parker |first= F. Calvin |year=1990 |publisher=University Press of America |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8191-7639-4 }}</ref><ref name="Sobey" /> * An American blacksmith named Albert Tolman is said to have invented the rickshaw, or "man drawn lorry" in 1846 in Worcester, Massachusetts, for a South American bound missionary.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9A4sMXVjcUC&pg=PT166 | title=Through the Heartland on U.S. 20: Massachusetts: Volume I: A Historical Travel Guide | publisher=PublishAmerica | author=William E. Lewis | isbn=978-1462624591| date=26 March 2007 }}</ref> * In New Jersey, the Burlington County Historical Society claims an 1867 invention by carriage maker James Birch, and exhibits a Birch rickshaw in its museum.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.burlingtoncountyhistoricalsociety.org/museum.php |title=Corson Poley Center |publisher=Burlington County Historical Society |access-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007095954/http://www.burlingtoncountyhistoricalsociety.org/museum.php |archive-date=7 October 2011 }}</ref>
Japan historian Seidensticker wrote of the theories:
<blockquote>Though the origins of the rickshaw are not entirely clear, they seem to be Japanese, and of Tokyo specifically. The most widely accepted theory offers the name of three inventors, and gives 1869 as the date of invention.<ref name="Lu p. 348">{{cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | publisher=University of California Press | author=Hanchao Lu | pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/348 348] | isbn=978-0520215641| year=1999 }}</ref></blockquote>
===Description=== The vehicle had a wooden carriage that rode on "superior Western wheels" and was a dramatic improvement over earlier modes of transportation. Whereas the earlier sedan chairs required two people, the rickshaw generally only required one. More than one person was required for hilly or mountainous areas. It also provided a smoother ride for the passenger. Other forms of vehicles at the time were drawn by animals or were wheelbarrows.<ref name="Warren p. 14" /> The vehicle also has an collapsible hood for protection from sun or rain.
The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, has had a rickshaw in its collection for over 120 years. It was made about 1880 and is described as:
<blockquote>A rickshaw, or jinrikisha, is a light, two-wheeled cart consisting of a doorless, chairlike body, mounted on springs with a collapsible hood and two shafts. Finished in black lacquer-ware over timber, it was drawn by a single rickshaw runner.<ref name=Powerhouse/></blockquote>
===Late 19th century=== [[File:Hanoï - Conducteur de Pousse-Pousse.jpg|upright|thumb|early 20th century rickshaw in Hanoi.]] In the Late 19th century, hand-pulled rickshaws became an inexpensive, popular mode of transportation across Asia.<ref name="Warren p. 14" /> Peasants who migrated to large Asian cities often worked first as a rickshaw runner.<ref name="De Mente p. 95" /><ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" /> It was "the deadliest occupation in the East, [and] the most degrading for human beings to pursue."<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" />{{#tag:ref|In China, coolies performed rickshaw pulling. Other hard or demeaning jobs included being night soil cleaners and dock workers.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" />|group="nb"}}
====Japan==== [[File:Edward VIII with his staff wearing Happi 1922.jpg|upright|thumbnail|Edward, Prince of Wales, and his staff disguised as rickshaw men during his visit to Japan in 1922. He bought the clothes himself in Kyoto.]] Starting in 1870, the Tokyo government issued a permit to build and sell 人力車 (jinrikisha: rickshaw in Japanese) to the trio that are believed in Asia to be the rickshaw's inventors: Izumi Yosuke, Takayama Kosuke, and Suzuki Tokujiro. In order to operate a rickshaw in Tokyo, a seal was required from these men.<ref name="De Mente p. 94" /> By 1872, they replaced the kago and norimono, becoming the main mode of transportation in Japan, with about 40,000 rickshaws in service. At that time man-power was much cheaper than horse-power; horses were generally only used by the military. Some of the rickshaws were artistically decorated with paintings and rear elevations. In this time, the more exuberant styles of decorations were banned.<ref>{{cite book | title=Tokyo from Edo to Showa | publisher=Tuttle Classics | author=Edward Seidensticker | year=2010 | pages=59 }}</ref> If the families were well-off financially they might have their own rickshaw runner. Generally, runners covered {{convert|30|to(-)|50|km|mi|-1}} in a day, at an average traveling speed of {{convert|8|km/h|mph|abbr=on|0}}.<ref name="Frédéric p. 424" /><ref name=Powerhouse>{{cite web | url=http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/insidethecollection/tag/jinrikisha/ | publisher=Powerhouse Museum | title=Japanese rickshaw | access-date=11 April 2013 }}</ref>
Japanese rickshaw manufacturers produced and exported rickshaws to Asian countries and South Africa.<ref name="Frédéric p. 424" />
====Singapore==== Singapore received its first rickshaws in 1880 and soon after they were prolific, making a "noticeable change in the traffic on Singapore's streets."<ref name="Warren p. 14" /> Bullock carts and gharries were used before rickshaws were introduced.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37">{{cite book | title=Chinese Adaptation and Diversity: Essays on Society and Literature in Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore | publisher=National University of Singapore Press | author=Leo Suryadinata | year=1992 | pages=37 | isbn=978-9971691868}}</ref>
Many of the poorest individuals in Singapore in the late nineteenth century were poverty-stricken, unskilled people of Chinese ancestry. Sometimes called coolies, the hardworking men found that pulling a rickshaw was a new opportunity for employment.<ref name="Warren p. 15">{{cite book | title=Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880–1940 | publisher=NUS Press | author=James Francis Warren | pages=[https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/15 15] | isbn=978-9971692667 | year=2003 | url=https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/15 }}</ref>
In 1897, martial law was declared to end a four-day rickshaw workers' strike.<ref name="Carlsson p. 171" />
====Other==== [[File:Woman seated in wheelbarrow pushed by men LCCN2004707920.jpg|thumb|A wheelbarrow rickshaw under the Qing Dynasty.]] [[File:Cycle rickshaw Beijing.jpg|thumb|Traditional Chinese touring cycle rickshaw in Beijing.]] In China, the rickshaw was first seen in 1873 and was used for public transportation the following year. Within a year there were 10,000 rickshaws in operation.<ref>Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century</ref> Around 1880 rickshaws appeared in India, first introduced in Simla by Reverend J. Fordyce.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Imperial Simla: the political culture of the Raj | author=Pamela Kanwar | edition=2| publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2003 | page=176 | isbn=978-0195667219 }}</ref> At the turn of the century they were introduced in Calcutta, India, and by 1914 were a conveyance for hire.<ref name="Warren p. 14" /> The rickshaw was also introduced to Korea in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite book | title=Seoul, twentieth century, growth and change of the last 100 years | publisher=서울시정개발연구원 | year=2003 | pages=164 | isbn=978-8980523054 | edition=2 | editor=Kwang-joong Kim}}</ref>
===20th century=== After World War II, there was a major shift in the use of man-powered rickshaws:
<blockquote>Hand-pulled rickshaws became an embarrassment to modernizing urban elites in the Third World, and were widely banned, in part because they were symbolic, not of modernity, but of a feudal world of openly marked class distinctions. Perhaps the seated rickshaw passenger is too close to the back of the laboring driver, who, besides, is metaphorically a draught animal harnessed between shafts.<ref name="Carlsson p. 171">{{cite book | title=Critical Mass: bicycling's defiant celebration | publisher=AK Press | author=Chris Carlsson | year=2002 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/criticalmassbicy0000unse/page/171 171] | isbn=978-1902593593 | url=https://archive.org/details/criticalmassbicy0000unse/page/171 }}</ref></blockquote>
The cycle rickshaw was built in the 1880s and was first used with regularity starting in 1929 in Singapore. They were found in every south and east Asian country by 1950. By the late 1980s there were estimated 4 million cycle rickshaws in the world.<ref name="Edgerton p. 46">{{cite book | title=The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900 | publisher=Oxford University Press | author=David Edgerton | year=2011 | pages=46 | isbn=978-0199832613}}</ref>
====Africa==== [[File:Tuk-tuk in Nairobi 2.JPG|upright|thumb|right|An auto rickshaw (''tuk-tuk'') in Nairobi.]] Rickshaws were introduced to Durban, South Africa, and by 1904 there were about 2,000 registered rickshaw pullers.<ref name="Warren p. 14" /><ref>{{cite web |author=Romita Hanuman |url=http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover/history/our-town/rickshaws |title=Rickshaws |website=City of Durban |access-date=2 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100519145024/http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover/history/our-town/rickshaws |archive-date=19 May 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=South Africa: Lesotho & Swaziland | publisher=Lonely Planet |author1=Mary Fitzpatrick |author2=Kate Armstrong | year=2006 | pages=308 | isbn=978-1740599702 | edition=7}}</ref> Rickshaws operated in Nairobi in the beginning of the 20th century; pullers went on strike there in 1908.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Africa under colonial domination 1880 - 1935: 7 | editor=A. Adu Boahen, Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa | publisher=UNESCO | year=1985 | page=666 | isbn=978-9231017131 }}</ref> In the 1920s, they were used in Bagamoyo, Tanga, Tanzania and other areas of East Africa for short distances.<ref>{{ cite book | title=60 Years in East Africa: The Life of a Settler | author=Werner Voigt | publisher=General Store Publishing House | pages=32, 34–35 | year=1995 | isbn=978-1896182391 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-03-10 |title=African Zulu Ricksha Pullers - South African Rickshaws |url=http://www.ezakwantu.com/Gallery%20Zulu%20Ricksha.htm |access-date=2024-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310052243/http://www.ezakwantu.com/Gallery%20Zulu%20Ricksha.htm |archive-date=10 March 2013 }}</ref>
====Asia====
The rickshaw's popularity in Japan had declined by the 1930s with the advent of motorized forms of transportation like automobiles and trains. After World War II, when gasoline and automobiles were scarce, they made a temporary comeback. The rickshaw tradition has stayed alive in Kyoto and Tokyo's geisha districts.<ref name=Powerhouse /><ref name="De Mente p. 95" /> In the 1990s, German-made cycle rickshaws called "velotaxis" were introduced in Japanese cities, including Kobe.<ref name="De Mente p. 95" />
thumb|upright|A row of rickshaws parked near a pier in Hong Kong, c. 1930s.
In post-war Hong Kong, rickshaws was one of the main transportation either for transporting goods or for transporting people during the Japanese invasion, known as the Battle of Hong Kong. Japanese military hired many rickshaw pullers to have them gathered and organize with other cooks and seamen for an underground armed team to enact the anti-British Colony clan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tsai |first1=Jung-fang |title=Wartime Experience, Collective Memories, and Hong Kong Identity |journal=China Review International |date=2005 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=229–246 |id={{Project MUSE|191055}} |doi=10.1353/cri.2005.0161 |s2cid=144855673 }}</ref> However, after World War II, other forms of transport such as pedicabs and streetcar became strong competitors of rickshaws, leading the business of rickshaws into stagnation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5m60qt84n?locale=en|title=Des Voeux Road Central, Central District|last=Frank Owen|date=1945|website=digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk|type=Photograph|access-date=5 March 2019}}</ref>
Chiuchow men formed a faction within the Canton rickshaw pullers union in the 1920s. In addition, the Chiuchow pullers could be identified by their hats which were rounded and flat at the top; while the rival Hoklo men had a cone-shaped headgear with sharp points at the top.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=David Strand|date=June 2007|title=Reviewed Work: Reluctant Heroes: Rickshaw Pullers in Hong Kong and Canton, 1874–1954 by Fung Chi Ming|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=112|issue=3|pages=830|jstor=40006699|doi=10.1086/ahr.112.3.830}}</ref> However, rickshaw use began to decline in the 1920s<ref name="De Mente p. 95">{{cite book | title=The Bizarre and the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun! | publisher=Cultural-Insight Books | author=Boye De Mente | year=2010 | isbn=978-1456424756 | editor=Demetra De Ment | pages=95 }}</ref> as the government introduced the streetcar system in 1924.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Perry|first=Elizabeth|date=May 1984|title=Collective Violence in China, 1880-1980|journal=Theory and Society|volume=13|issue=3|pages=427–454|jstor=657459|doi=10.1007/bf00213233|s2cid=143101510}}</ref> The number of rickshaw pullers had declined from 44,200 to 25,877 six months after the opening of the tramway.<ref name=":1" /> It had also caused the Beijing tramway riot in October 1929.<ref name=":1" /> A rough form of a rickshaw is sometimes used for hauling coal, building materials or other material. Both motorized and pedal-power cycle rickshaws, or pedicabs, were used for short-distance passenger travel.<ref name="Tiki China">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2WM23qDdOGQC&pg=PT61 | title=China Travel Guide – Tiki Travel | publisher=FB Editions | pages=PT61 | isbn=9791021306523}}</ref> There are still many rickshaws in many cities for either touring purposes (in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, with traditional Chinese rickshaws) or short range transportation in some counties. However, the new Communist government banned rickshaws in Canton in the early 1950s, leading to another low tide of rickshaws.<ref name=":0" />
In Singapore, the rickshaw's popularity increased into the 20th century. There were approximately 50,000 rickshaws in 1920 and that number had doubled by 1930.<ref name="Lu p. 348" /> Cycle rickshaws were used in Singapore beginning in 1929. Within six years pulled rickshaws were outnumbered by cycle rickshaws,<ref name="Edgerton p. 46" /> which were also used by sightseeing tourists.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 40">Suryadinata (1992). p. 40.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Other means of transportation in Singapore are buses, lorries and trams.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 40"/>|group="nb"}}
[[File:Bangladeshi style Rickshaw.jpg|upright|thumb|right|Cycle rickshaw Bangladeshi Rickshaw in Sweden.]] In the 1930s, cycle rickshaws were used in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Kolkata, India; and Jakarta, Indonesia. By 1950 they could be found in many South and East Asian countries.<ref name="Edgerton p. 46" /> By the end of the 20th century, there were 300,000 such vehicles in Dhaka.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900 | publisher=Oxford University Press | author=David Edgerton | year=2011 | pages=46–47 | isbn=978-0199832613}}</ref> By the end of 2013, there were about 100,000 electric rickshaws in Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/05/regulation-threatens-india-e-rickshaws-201451331017908658.html|title=Regulation threatens India's e-rickshaws|author=Faiz JamilFaiz Jamil|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref>
In Viêtnam, the rickshaw was called with the French name "Pousse-pousse". In 1883, Jean Thomas Raoul Bonnal, Supérior Résident of Tonkin, import 2 rickshaws from Japan in the city of Hanoi and made copies of them.
====North America==== Pedicabs were introduced in North America in 1962, where they were a means of transportation at the Seattle World's Fair in the state of Washington.<ref>{{cite book | title=Seattle's 1962 World's Fair | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | author=Bill Cotter | year=2010 | pages=55, 125 | isbn=978-0738581255}}</ref>
===21st century=== [[File:Velotaxi1.jpg|thumb|upright|Velotaxis in Nagoya, Japan, 2005.]] [[File:Rickshaws - asakusa - japan - Oct 25 2015.ogv|thumb|Various rickshaws for tourists in Asakusa, Japan, 2015.]] The 21st century has seen a resurgence in rickshaws, particularly in motorized rickshaws and cycle rickshaws. Auto rickshaws, also called velotaxis, have resurged as they are about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of regular taxis. German velotaxis are three-wheeled, powered vehicles with a space for a driver and, behind the driver, space for two passengers.<ref name="De Mente p. 95-96">{{cite book | title=The Bizarre and the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun! | publisher=Cultural-Insight Books | author=Boye De Mente | year=2010 | isbn=978-1456424756 | editor=Demetra De Ment | pages=95–96 }}</ref> Cycle rickshaws are used in many Asian, North American, and European cities.<ref name=Sobey>{{cite book | title=A Field Guide to Automotive Technology | publisher=Chicago Review Press | author=Ed Sobey | year=2009 | pages=172 | isbn=978-1556528125}}</ref> They are increasingly being used as an eco-friendly way of short-range transportation, particularly in urban areas. Along with auto rickshaws, they are also used (particularly by Asian cities) for tourism, because of their "novelty value as an entertaining form of transportation".<ref name=Sobey />
====Africa==== In Madagascar, pulled cycle and auto rickshaws are a common form of transportation in a number of cities, especially Antsirabe. They are known as ''pousse-pousse'', meaning ''push-push''.<ref>{{cite book | title=Madagascar, Volume 15 of Cultures of the World Cultures of the World – Group 15 | publisher=Marshall Cavendish |author1=Jay Heale |author2=Zawiah Abdul Latif | year=2008 | pages=75–76 | isbn=978-0761430360 | edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNax15GoPIkC&q=pousse-pousse&pg=PT59 | title=Madagascar Travel Guide | publisher=Lonely Planet | access-date=13 April 2013 | year=2012 | edition=7 | isbn=978-1743213018 }}</ref> '''Aboboyaa''' is a tricycle used in the transportation of goods and service in Ghana.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nartey|first=Laud|date=2021-10-25|title=Gov't restricts "Aboboyaa" on major highways in Accra|url=https://3news.com/govt-restricts-aboboyaa-on-major-highways-in-accra/|access-date=2022-02-18|website=3NEWS|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-02|title=Use beach road to Tema – Police caution 'aboboyaa' riders|url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Use-beach-road-to-Tema-Police-caution-aboboyaa-riders-1393483|access-date=2022-02-18|website=GhanaWeb|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Annang|first=Evans|date=2022-01-24|title=Apiate Disaster: I did not collide with explosives truck – 'Aboboyaa' driver speaks|url=https://www.pulse.com.gh/news/local/apiate-disaster-i-did-not-collide-with-explosives-truck-aboboyaa-driver-speaks/w03s1nx|access-date=2022-02-18|website=Pulse Ghana|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-22|title=Ban on 'aboboyaa' on Accra highways to take effect from Nov. 1 – Henry Quartey - MyJoyOnline.com|url=https://www.myjoyonline.com/ban-on-aboboyaa-on-accra-highways-to-take-effect-from-nov-1-henry-quartey/|access-date=2022-02-18|website=www.myjoyonline.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Arrested 'Aboboyaa' riders on Tema Motorway to be pardoned|url=https://www.modernghana.com/news/1117096/arrested-aboboyaa-riders-on-tema-motorway-to.html|access-date=2022-02-18|website=Modern Ghana|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-03|title='Aboboyaa' operators call for designation of tricycle routes – MyJoyOnline.com|url=https://www.myjoyonline.com/aboboyaa-operators-call-for-designation-of-tricycle-routes/|access-date=2022-02-18|website=www.myjoyonline.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-01|title=Aboboyaa operators still using Accra-Tema motorway despite ban|url=https://citinewsroom.com/2021/11/aboboyaa-operators-still-using-accra-tema-motorway-despite-ban/|access-date=2022-02-18|website=Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=No 'aboboyaa' on highways from Nov. 1|url=https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-news-no-aboboyaa-on-highways-from-nov-1.html|location=Accra, Ghana|access-date=2022-02-18|newspaper=Daily Graphic|date=25 October 2021 |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Quist|first=Ebenezer|date=2021-11-02|title=If I can't use Motorway, I have to carry the borla to my house – Aboboyaa rider|url=https://yen.com.gh/people/196932-seidu-nuhu-man-walewale-moved-madina-rides-aboboyaa-living/|access-date=2022-02-18|website=Yen.com.gh - Ghana news.|language=en}}</ref>
====Asia==== thumb|Rickshaw drivers in Haridwar thumb|upright|Cycle rickshaw decoration in Bangladesh
Macau still uses tri-wheeled bicycle rickshaw, or riquexó in Portuguese, as Macau was a Portuguese colony in the past. This kind of transportation was very famous until the late 20th century, due to the fact of being a small city and few cars, not so many motorcycles, very bad public transport and no other transport such as train or subway. You can go around Macau peninsula and the twos island on rickshaw, and visit the Riquexó Museum and see the evolution of rickshaws from the 18th century until modern times.
Automated cycle rickshaws, called velotaxis, are popular in Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan. Their use is growing at a rate of about 20–30% a year in Japanese cities. The traditional rickshaws are still alive for travelers in some tourist places in Japan. Rickshaws are found in Hong Kong.<ref name="De Mente p. 95-96" /> In China, automated and pedal-power cycle rickshaws, or pedicabs, are used for short-distance passenger travel in large cities and many medium-sized cities.<ref name="Tiki China" /> Most Indian cities offer auto rickshaw service; hand-pulled rickshaws do exist in some areas, such as Kolkata (Calcutta) as a part of their transport system which also includes cycle rickshaws.<ref>{{cite book | title=Frommer's India | publisher=John Wiley and Sons |author1=Pippa de Bruyn |author2=Keith Bain |author3=David Allardice |author4=Shonar Joshi | pages=15, 57, 156 | isbn=978-0470645802 | edition=Fourth| date=18 February 2010 }}</ref> Sri Lanka has over 1 million auto rickshaws registered in use as of 2018.
====Australia==== In Australia, cycle rickshaws or trishaws (three wheels) are used in Melbourne and St Kilda. They are also seen in Cowaramup, Western Australia at Bakehouse '38.
====Europe==== Cycle rickshaws or trishaws (three wheels) are used in some large continental European cities,<ref name=IBF /> such as: <!-- Australia isn't a part of Europe --> * Austria: Vienna * Denmark: Copenhagen and Odense<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4QjqJqi7A8C&pg=PT56 | title=Denmark Travel Adventures | publisher=Hunter Publishing, Inc | author=Elizabet Olesen | year=2011 | pages=PT56 | isbn=978-1588437075}}</ref><ref name=MainStreet>{{cite web | url=http://www.pedicab.com/pedicab-operators.html | title=Main Street Pedicab Operators | publisher=Main Street Pedicabs | access-date=13 April 2013 | archive-date=5 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405040443/http://www.pedicab.com/pedicab-operators.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> * Estonia: Tallinn<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.err.ee/116470/tallinn-puts-a-stop-to-cycle-rickshaw-expansion | title=Tallinn puts a stop to cycle rickshaw expansion | publisher=ERR | date=10 August 2015| access-date=9 October 2020 }}</ref> * France: Paris and Nantes<ref name=MainStreet /> * Germany: Lake Constance, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover and other cities.<ref name=IBF>{{ cite web | url=http://www.ibike.org/economics/pedicab-intl.htm | title=Pedicabs, Cycle Rickshaws: International Directory | publisher=International Bicycle Fund | access-date=13 April 2013 }}</ref><ref name=MainStreet /> * Hungary: Budapest<ref name=MainStreet /> * Ireland: Cork and Dublin. * Italy: Florence, Milan,<ref name=MainStreet /> and Rome * The Netherlands: Amsterdam and in the Caribbean, Willemstad<ref name=MainStreet /><ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.amsterdam.info/transport/bike-taxi/ | title=Bike taxi | publisher=Amsterdam Tourism & Convention Board | access-date=13 April 2013 }}</ref> * Norway: Oslo<ref name=MainStreet /> * Poland: Kraków and Łódź * Russia: Saint Petersburg<ref>{{cite web|url=http://greenword.ru/2012/07/velo-riksha.html|title=Велорикши в Питере|author=pinokio|work=GreenWord.ru: иллюстрированный интернет-журнал о человеке и природе|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> * Spain: Barcelona<ref name=MainStreet /> * Switzerland: Bern * Romania: Bucharest
Within the United Kingdom, pedicabs operate in:
* London, mostly in Soho and other areas of central London. Their activity is not regulated by Transport for London, so there are no limits of the fees they can charge.<ref name="Edgerton p. 46"/><ref name=MainStreet />{{#tag:ref|Rickshaws or Pedicabs as they are also known, have been operating on the streets of London for over seven years in and around the West End, Soho, Covent Garden and Leicester Square areas.|group="nb"}} The Queen's Speech in May 2022 introduced plans to legislate a licensing scheme for pedicabs<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queens-speech-2022 | title=Queen's Speech 2022 | date=10 May 2022 | publisher=10 Downing Street | access-date= 15 May 2022}}</ref> which was later enacted as the '''Pedicabs (London) Act 2024''', introducing a formal licensing and regulatory framework for their operation.<ref>{{Cite web |others=Expert Participation |title=Pedicabs (London) Act 2024 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/7/introduction |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250304024745/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/7/introduction |archive-date=4 March 2025 |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=www.legislation.gov.uk |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> * Edinburgh, where vendors are hired like taxis and provide tours.<ref>{{cite book | title=Frommer's Scotland |author1=Lesley Anne Rose |author2=Michael Macaroon |author3=Vivienne Crow | edition =12 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | year=2012 | isbn=978-1119992769 }}</ref> * Oxford.<ref name=MainStreet />
<gallery widths=200 heights=200> File:Biketaxi Kuopio.jpg|Biketaxi rickshaw in Kuopio, Finland.<ref>[https://www.biketaxi.fi/ Biketaxi – Official Site] {{In lang|fi}}</ref> File:Brighton to Newhaven along the coast 056.jpg|Auto rickshaw located in Brighton Marina. </gallery>
====North America==== thumb|upright|A cycle rickshaw (bicitaxi) in Mexico City, 2019.
* In Canada, there are pedicabs in operation in Victoria<ref>{{cite book | title=Vancouver and Victoria. 4th ed. | author=Ulysses Travel Editorial Staff, Ulysses Travel Guides | publisher=Hunter Publishing, Inc | year=2003 | isbn=978-2894645178}}</ref> and Vancouver. They are regulated in Toronto and Vancouver.<ref>{{cite web | title=Pedicabs, City of Vancouver | url=http://vancouver.ca/doing-business/pedicabs.aspx | publisher=City of Vancouver | access-date=13 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=Rickshaw owners back in driver's seat: Toronto rickshaws can now charge unlimited fares after a judge said City Hall's price limits were chosen on a "whim." | url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.html?id=dad7518a-21d5-42d4-8030-d3bae4be6841 | publisher=National Post, CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. (posted on Canada.com) | date=9 May 2007 | access-date=13 April 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513005700/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.html?id=dad7518a-21d5-42d4-8030-d3bae4be6841 | archive-date=13 May 2013}}</ref> Pulled rickshaw rides are available in downtown Ottawa, with tours of historical Byward Market.<ref>{{cite book | title=Frommer's Canada: With the best hiking & outdoor adventures |author1=Hilary Davidson |author2=Paul Karr |author3=Herbert Bailey Livesey |author4=Bill McRae |author5=Donald Olson | edition=14 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | year=2006 | isbn=978-0470044575}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://ottawarickshaws.ca/tours-and-services/downtown-rickshaw-tours/ | title=Downtown Ottawa Rickshaw Tours | publisher=Ottawa Rickshaws | access-date=13 April 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419002430/http://ottawarickshaws.ca/tours-and-services/downtown-rickshaw-tours/ | archive-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> * In the United States, San Diego and New York City each host hundreds of pedicabs; dozens of other North American cities also have pedicab services.<ref>{{cite book | title=Proceedings of the International Conferences on Transportation Systems Planning and Operation, Volume 1 | author=Indian Institute of Technology (Madras, India). Dept. of Civil Engineering | editor=V. Thamizh Arasan | publisher=Allied Publishers | year=2004 | page=202}}</ref> In New York, human powered transport is used primarily by tourists due to its cost.<ref name="concierge NYC">{{cite web|url=http://www.concierge.com/ideas/hotspots/tours/500723?page=1|title=Travel Inspiration|work=Condé Nast Traveler|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="amny">{{cite web|url=http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/pedicab-driving-no-easy-ride-1.1293582|title=New York City News: Latest Headlines, Videos & Pictures|work=am New York|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|At a rate of $5 plus $1 per block ''per person,'' a 20-block (one mile) pedicab ride for two people will cost $50.<ref name="concierge NYC" /><ref name=amny /> In a taxicab, the same ride would cost under $10.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/passenger/taxicab_rate.shtml|title=NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission – RATE OF FARE|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> According to Peter Meitzler of New York's Manhattan Rickshaw Company, a passenger has an entirely different urban experience when one rides in a rickshaw.<ref>[http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2007/march/rickshaw.php "Rickshaws Reinvented – The ancient transportation takes a modern turn"], Dina Modianot-Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, March 2007</ref>|group="nb"}} In New Orleans, pedicabs have been used to transport French Quarter tourists since the summer of 2012.<ref name="Big Breezy Pedaling: The New Orleans Pedicab">{{cite web|url=http://www.gonola.com/2012/07/06/big-breezy-pedaling-the-new-orleans-pedicab.html|title=Big Breezy Pedaling: The New Orleans Pedicab|work=GoNOLA.com|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> {{See also|Rickshaws in the United States}} * In Mexico, there are thousands of pedicabs. All drivers are in informal circumstances, and have precarious working conditions, long hours (11.3 hours a day), low wages (US$59.18 per week), and no social protections or benefits. 6.3% reported suffering from a disease, 49.5% corresponded to musculoskeletal conditions and only 11.6% were affiliated to any health system. 53.8% are owners of the vehicle and, although it does not seem to influence physical illness (P=0.03), it is related to the psychosocial ones (P=0.260).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Berrones-Sanz|first=Luis David|title=The working conditions of motorcycle taxi drivers in Tláhuac, Mexico City|journal=Journal of Transport & Health|volume=8|pages=73–80|doi=10.1016/j.jth.2017.04.008|year=2018|bibcode=2018JTHea...8...73B}}</ref> {{See also|Rickshaws in Mexico City}}
==Types== Types of rickshaws include:
* a pulled rickshaw; a two-wheeled passenger cart pulled by a human runner * a cycle rickshaw, also called a ''pedicab'' * an auto rickshaw, also called a ''tuk-tuk'', ''auto'', ''mototaxi'', or ''baby taxi'' * an electric rickshaw, also called ''e-rickshaw''.
<gallery widths=200 heights=160> File:Pousse-pousse_Madagascar.jpg|Pulled rickshaw, Madagascar File:Riksaw nepal.jpg|Cycle rickshaws, Nepal File:Auto_Rickshaw_in_San_Francisco.jpg|Auto rickshaw, San Francisco, California File:Human.rickshaw.kolkata.india.JPG|Pulled Rickshaw in Kolkata File:Gem_prince.jpg|FRP, GEM e-rickshaw Haryana, India File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Becaks bij de Britse ambassade TMnr 20018038.jpg|Cycle rickshaw in Jakarta, Indonesia known as "''Bechak''" </gallery>
==See also== ; Rickshaws {{Div col}} * Auto rickshaw * Cycle rickshaw * Electric rickshaw * Pulled rickshaw * Rickshaw art {{Div col end}}
; Designers * George Bliss (pedicab designer)
; Other human powered transport {{Div col}} * Bath chair * Bicycle trailer * Boda-boda (bicycle taxi) * Cargo bike * Human-powered transport * Quadracycle * Utility cycling {{Div col end}}
== Explanatory notes == {{Reflist|group="nb"}}
== Citations == {{Reflist|2}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book | author= Bandyopadhyay, Subir | year=1990 | title=Calcutta cycle-rickshaw pullers: a sociological study | publisher=Minerva Associates Publications | isbn=978-8185195278 }} * {{cite book | author = Fung, Chi Ming | year=2005 | title=Reluctant Heroes: Richshaw Pullers in Hong Kong And Canton, 1874-1954 | via=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland | publisher=Hong Kong University Press | isbn=978-9622097346 }} * {{cite book | author=Indian Institute of Economics | year=1962 | title=A socio-economic survey of rickshaw drivers in Hyderabad City area | publisher=A.P. }} * {{cite book | author = Mulhall, Priscilla | year= 2010 | title=Solar-assisted Electric Auto Rickshaw Three Wheeler | publisher=Illinois Institute of Technology }} * {{cite book | author=Warren, James Francis | year=2003 | title=Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880–1940 | publisher=NUS Press | isbn=978-9971692667 | url=https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr }}
== External links == {{Commons category|Rickshaws}} {{Wiktionary}} * [https://www.patrimoine.asso.fr/879-2/ Histoire du Pousse-pousse]
{{human-powered vehicles}} {{Authority control}}
[https://www.bahubalierickshaw.com/bahubali-e-rickshaw-indias-trusted-brand-for-e-rickshaws.php bahubali electric rickshaw] Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Human-powered vehicles Category:Japanese inventions Category:Vehicles for hire