transportation

Image source: CMERI

In many countries including India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the cycle rickshaw is used as a form of transport for short distances. But cycle rickshaws have been regulated and banned as their slower speed hampers the smooth flow of automobile traffic and adds to congestion.

Higher incidences of Tuberculosis found among rickshaw wallahs (rickshaw pedallers) of Delhi have been attributed to the increased intake of polluted air during pedalling. The fatigue resulting from Tuberculosis prevents infected rickshaw wallahs from earning their daily bread and pushes them further into poverty due to long-duration treatment needs.

Check out this sweet ride:

Image source: Gizmag

The Aquaduct Mobile Filtration Vehicle, developed by Adam Mack, Brian Mason, John Lai, Paul Silberschatz and Eleanor Morgan from California, USA, was the Grand Prize winner in the “Innovate or Die” Pedal-Powered Machine Contest this year.

"The competition sponsored by Google and bike maker Specialized, asked people to create Earth-cooling inventions based on the simple mechanics of the bicycle and attracted 102 entries from around the world."  

(view all entries on the contest's YouTube channel)

This little beauty filters water while transporting it back from the well or water source you collected it from.  And when you don't need to go anywhere, you can disconnect the clutch and pedal your way to cleaner water while the bike remains stationary. 

More beauty lies in the details:

The Wall Street's Journal's Moving On Up India interactive article gives six great examples of technology products for the bottom of the pyramid. Dont miss it!

Bicycles are an obvious alternative to owning a car and the solution to our ever-increasing pollution problem; so why aren't more people biking on a daily basis?

This year, the Taipei International Bicycle Design Competition (IBCD) attracted over 900 entries from around the world. The design solutions aim at increasing the usability of bikes (see pictures of the finalists' designs here).

Simon Páez, a Colombian citizen who won the competition's 2009 Merit Award tells us about his rationale behind TRIBO, the design concept that he submitted for this year's IBCD:

"In Bogota we have the largest infrastructure of bike lanes in South America, yet only 4% of the population ride their bikes to work every day. The city of Bogota developed bike lanes all around  the city to decrease the traffic caused by the vehicular congestion, but this has not happened because vehicle users find bicycles unfit to move around the city. After investigating, I found that people weren't comfortable enough, and that they didn't feel safe enough to ride their bikes in a city like Bogota. TRIBO meets needs like safety and comfort to encourage people to use the 350 km infrastructure of bike lanes in Bogota and thus decrease the social and envionmental impact made by vehicular congestion"