Adil Najam
Pictures of overloaded vehicles are nothing special. Not in Pakistan. And our fascinations for rickshaws (here, here, here, here, here, here) is also well known. So, why yet another rickshaw picture?
Unless I have it terribly wrong, what we have here is really an ordinary motorcycle - probably not 7occ, maybe more like 140cc (what do you think, Owais?) - that has been retrofitted to become a people-carrier. All very good till here.
But the question is, how many people are riding on this, well, motorcycle? And did they just break any records without even knowing about it?
By my count, there are at least 9 people on this (3 in the front, four in the back, at least 2 hanging), and maybe as many as 12!
Even by Pakistani standards, that is impressive (and really really dangerous!).
Has anyone here seen worse? Or better? [Depending on what you consider worse, or better!]
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Also, I wonder if that second row is really parallel to the first. Maybe it is not and the guy is just sitting sideways and the woman also sideways but facing the other way. I am just not sure.
By the way, I can see the picture fine.
I think the right spelling is Qingqi and it is the name of a Chinese company which has now taken a Pakistani flavor because of all of these reformulated motorbikes.
Usually they are slightly different. The ones I have seen are usually yellow and the word Qingqi is written very boldly on them.
This does look more like a make-do rickshaw but with a motorbike rather than a scooter at the front.
Is it me who can’t see the image?
Dangerous? This is the only way of transportation for them. I was in interior Sindh 2 weeks back (Thata and neighboring towns) and this was a very common site. It first this seems crazy. But it’s no crazier then us driving 8 seater SUV with 1 passenger. Yes, these rickshaws are dangerous but not stupid. In fact, these drivers are doing service to the community and we should figure out a way to optimize their ride capacity. Well here is challenge, let’s take a 70cc motor-bike (yes, most are 70cc) and come-up with a few design that these drivers/owners can use to optimize the ride with possible safety.
Amazing. See what else you can do with a chinqchi… Very dangerous indeed.
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=SKYmicEZvGI
There is nothing amusing about this or many other pictures like this we have seen many times before. What this really is a failure of successive Pakistani governments to provide decent public transportation. And here we are discussing the origin and the name of this ‘vehicle’!!!
This is a problem as a whole, in Indian subcontinent. Even in India and Bangladesh we see as many as ten people sharing a ride. Obviously this is a very dangerous practice.
Chingchees are originally from Bhawalpur where they were introduced to replace the manual-driven cycle rickshaws . The man driven rickshaws can now only be seen in Kalabagh/Mianwali .