Governing Electric Three Wheelers for Last Mile Mobility in South Asian Secondary Cities
This study argues that electric three-wheelers are a vital, cost-effective, and inclusive last-mile mobility solution for South Asian secondary cities, yet their full potential remains unrealized due to institutional failures that treat them as problems rather than integrating them through flexible, tiered governance policies.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
In the bustling, rapidly growing cities of South Asia, a specific kind of transportation gap has emerged. As populations swell and spread out, the formal public transport systems—primarily large buses and trains—have struggled to keep pace. These conventional systems are excellent for moving many people along wide, main roads, but they often fail to reach the narrow, winding streets where most people actually live and work. This leaves a "last-mile" problem: the difficult stretch between a person's home and the nearest major bus stop. In response to this gap, a quiet revolution has taken place on the ground. Small, electric three-wheeled vehicles, known variously as e-rickshaws, easy bikes, or electric tuk-tuks, have appeared in vast numbers. They are cheap to run, can squeeze through tight spaces, and produce no exhaust fumes while driving. However, because they arrived without a central plan or clear rules, city officials often view them with suspicion, seeing them as chaotic obstacles rather than useful tools. The central question facing urban planners is whether these vehicles are a symptom of urban failure or a vital part of the solution.
A team of researchers set out to answer this question by looking closely at four secondary cities in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka: Narayanganj and Gazipur in Bangladesh, Ludhiana in India, and Kandy in Sri Lanka. These cities were chosen because they represent the typical urban environment where these electric vehicles are most common, yet where government policies remain inconsistent. The researchers combined detailed field surveys in the two Bangladeshi cities with a review of existing data from the Indian and Sri Lankan cities. They examined how people travel, how far they go, how much it costs to run these vehicles, and how they fit into the existing road networks. Their goal was to move beyond simple opinions and gather hard evidence about whether these electric three-wheelers are truly helping or hindering the cities they serve.
The findings reveal that these small vehicles are not just a minor part of the traffic; they are the backbone of daily movement for millions. In every city studied, more than 80 percent of all trips are short journeys of less than five kilometers. For these short distances, the electric three-wheelers are far more effective than the large buses. In the Bangladeshi cities of Narayanganj and Gazipur, these electric vehicles carry significantly more passengers on short trips than the formal bus system does. In fact, in Gazipur, they handle more than half of all trips in the one-to-two-kilometer range. The reason for this dominance is simple geometry and accessibility. While buses can only travel on main roads, which make up a tiny fraction of the total road network—sometimes as little as 3 percent of the streets in a city like Gazipur—electric three-wheelers can navigate the narrow local lanes where people actually live. They act as a bridge, picking people up from their doorsteps and carrying them to the main bus routes, a service that large vehicles physically cannot provide.
Beyond just reaching more places, these vehicles offer distinct advantages in cost and safety. The researchers calculated that the cost to operate an electric three-wheeler is dramatically lower than that of a bus or a private car. In Narayanganj, the cost per kilometer for an electric rickshaw is roughly one-tenth of the cost for a large bus. This makes them an affordable option for low-income households. Perhaps most strikingly, the study found that women in these cities prefer these electric vehicles over buses by a factor of five to seven times. This strong preference suggests that the smaller, more flexible vehicles offer a sense of safety and convenience that the larger, more crowded buses do not. Environmentally, the picture is also clear: because these vehicles run on electricity, they produce no tailpipe emissions while driving, offering a cleaner alternative to the petrol and diesel vehicles that currently dominate the streets.
Despite these clear benefits, the researchers found that the potential of these vehicles is being wasted because of how they are governed. In many places, city authorities treat the electric three-wheelers as a problem to be controlled rather than a resource to be integrated. In Bangladesh, for instance, the sector operates in a legal gray area with no clear rules for registration or driver training, leading to concerns about traffic safety and congestion. In India and Sri Lanka, while some regulations exist, they are often inconsistent or poorly enforced. The study argues that the problems associated with these vehicles—such as traffic jams or safety risks—are not caused by the vehicles themselves, but by the lack of a structured system to manage them. When left unregulated, they operate chaotically; when properly organized, they function as an efficient, low-cost, and clean layer of the transport network.
The researchers propose a three-step framework to turn these vehicles from a source of confusion into a strategic asset. The first step is to give them legal recognition, ensuring that every vehicle is registered and every driver is licensed and trained. The second step is to integrate them into the city's transport plan by designating specific routes and pickup points, turning them into a coordinated feeder system that connects neighborhoods to major transit hubs. The final step involves looking toward the future, using the environmental benefits of these electric vehicles to attract funding for green infrastructure, such as solar-powered charging stations. The study concludes that the transformation of these vehicles from a perceived nuisance into a vital part of the city's mobility system is not a technical challenge, but an institutional one. The vehicles already exist, the demand is undeniable, and the benefits are proven; what is missing is the political will to govern them with the same care and planning given to buses and trains.
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