Pulled rickshaw
A pulled rickshaw (from Japanese jinrikisha (人力車) 'person/human-powered vehicle') is a mode of human-powered transport by which a runner draws a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two people.
Rickshaws are commonly believed to have been invented in Japan in the 1860s, at the beginning of a period of rapid technical advancement.
"[5][nb 1] The rickshaw's popularity in Japan declined by the 1930s with the advent of automated forms of transportation, like automobiles and trains.
[7] The initial rickshaws rode on iron-shod wooden wheels and the passenger sat on hard, flat seats.
[8] In the city of Shanghai, public rickshaws were painted yellow to differentiate from the private vehicles of the wealthy citizens, which were described as: ... always shiny, were carefully maintained, and sported 'a spotless white upholstered double seat, a clean plaid for one's lap, and a wide protective tarpaulin to protect the passenger (or passengers, since sometimes up to three people rode together) against the rain.
Its name pousse-pousse, meaning push-push, is reportedly gained from the need to have a second person to push the back of the rickshaw on Madagascar's hilly roads.
[16][17] In China, from the ancient times and until the 19th century, rich and important people, when traveling overland, were commonly transported in sedan chairs carried by bearers, rather than in wheeled vehicles.
[30] Due to this low income, many coolies would not give customers a clear idea of standard price and thus charge higher at any chance they had.
[37][nb 2] According to Trillin, most Kolkata rickshaws serve people "just a notch above poor" who tend to travel short distances.
However, in a recent article by Hyrapiet and Greiner,[41] the authors found that rickshaws also transport middle-class residents who use their services out of convenience and for short-distance trips to the local marketplace.
"[39] Also according to Hyrapiet and Greiner, rickshaw pullers have acted as peer-educators for the Calcutta Samaritans providing critical information on HIV/AIDS because of their access to marginalized groups within Kolkata's red light districts.
[citation needed] Motor vehicles are banned in the Eco-sensitive zone area of Matheran, India, a tourist hill station near Mumbai so man-pulled rickshaws are still one of the major forms of transport there.
[43] In August 2005, the Communist government of West Bengal announced plans to completely ban pulled rickshaws, resulting in protests and strikes of the pullers.
Japan historian Seidensticker wrote of the theories: Though the origins of the rickshaw are not entirely clear, they seem to be Japanese, and of Tokyo specifically.
[7]Starting in 1870, the Tokyo government issued a permission for Izumi Yosuke, Takayama Kosuke, and Suzuki Tokujiro to build and sell rickshaws.
[6] The rickshaw's popularity in Japan declined by the 1930s with the advent of automated forms of transportation, like automobiles and trains.
[53] Prior to the introduction of auto rickshaws in cities, horse-drawn carriages (tongas) were a main source of public transportation.
Americans tried to introduce it to Manila in the early 20th century, but it was strongly opposed by local Filipinos who viewed it as an undignified mode of transport that turned humans into "beasts".
The main mode of public and private transportation in the Philippines from the 18th to the early 20th centuries was the kalesa, a two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.
[5] Many of the poorest individuals in Singapore in the late nineteenth century were poor, unskilled people of Chinese ancestry.
[22] Rickshaw pullers experienced "very poor" living conditions, poverty and long hours of hard work.
[61] Rickshaws are a popular mode of transportation in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, providing tours of historical Byward Market, in the summer.
