Tuk tuks ride on in Totnes
posted by Cptn
If nothing else, those tuk tuks are flexible and persistent. A tuk tuk is a three-wheeled motorised rickshaw, and the Totnes Rickshaw Company had hoped to run a taxi service using them in the town, until it was stymied by council bureaucracy. But to get round the red tape, the company has been running free rides from Steamer Quay to the Rotherfold (if you don’t know the town, it’s a journey up a steep hill).
According to the Herald Express, the rides became so popular that people were queuing up for the Rickshaw trips last Saturday – even though there is no official ‘bus stop’ and the trips are not being advertised.
Rickshaw company chairman Pete Ryeland told the paper: “We have decided to offer a skeleton service to show our commitment to Totnes and to keep it in the public eye.
“We believe that because we are running the service free of charge that it is no different to any one offering someone a lift up the hill.
“We have had a lot support from people who cannot believe that the rickshaws have not been supported by the council. People think the rickshaws are a good idea,” he said.
“Our rickshaws which are converted to run on recycled cooking oil will be the greenest motorised transport on the roads in Devon. We are sustainable, green and we now know that a precedent in Purbeck exists to the granting of a hackney licence to a motorised rickshaw.”
It’s the council’s own byelaw which put the kibosh on the tuk tuk, and although they can go through the process of changing it, there doesn’t seem to be a political will to do so.
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October 4th, 2008
