Designing the User Experience of Auto-rickshaw Commuters in Mumbai City

Abstract

Since the development of auto-rickshaws in India in the late 1950s, these vehicles have become an indispensable part of urban mobility for millions of people. Auto rickshaws play a vital and vigorous role in India’s urban transport systems. They also represent a very improvisational and increasingly inefficient sector – and they are getting lost in the changing dynamics of urban mobility in India. Today, with increasing urban populations, there is growth in demand for urban transport, growth in private motorization and a decline in public transport share. How do auto rickshaws fit in and have a role that is efficient – for both the operators and their passengers? And how can this mode of para-transit contribute to urban transport sustainability – through both increasing efficiency and safety for everyone on the roads?