In a video that went viral, Indian Industrialist Harsh Goenka recently tweeted about the a cool mode of urban transportation “This is what I need to travel in my crowded city.”
Part of the reason it went viral was that it was retweeted by 1.5 million followers of the chairman of the US$3.80 billion Indian conglomerate – the RPG Group. It is hard to visualize how the urban transit in a post-pandemic is going to shape up as people are hesitantly going back to work in public transit that is likely to get crowded again.
Before the pandemic and lockdowns, entrepreneurs around the world had been experimenting with modes of transport to supplement cars and bikes.
The Wired magazine had run a detailed feature on “the Ways E-Scooters Could Save the City” featuring how startups like Bird, Lime are designing e-Scooters that can slash emissions, reinvigorate mass transit, and address America’s dependency on cars.
Startups in India like Yulu are also experimenting with small electric scooters that commuters can rent and ride.
While the startups are focused on simple electric mobility, city planners are reviewing regulations around these vehicles ziz-zagging in crowded traffic. While it is rather ‘cool’ to view the video of the man in Goenka’s vide is riding that contraption, one can imagine the plight of such vehicle caught between fast-moving bikes and cars in urban traffic!