Mumbai's first quadricycle has hit the roads and is already turning heads. Nitin Bhalekar has become the city's first quadricycle owner. The new vehicle, which is a microcar, was registered at the Wadala regional transport office (RTO) last month.
In an interaction with Mumbai Mirror, Nitin Bhalekar revealed that he took one look at the newly launched quadricycle and felt it was the "future of autorickshaws."
Bhalekar, the only person, to own a quadricycle in Mumbai, as of now, plies the vehicle for five hours from 5.30pm to 10pm after completing his shifts at the operations and maintenance unit of Adani Electricity.
Notably, quadricycles are four-wheeled vehicles, the size of autorickshaws, and though they resemble mini cars, have nearly half the weight of small vehicles and more frugal engines, equipped with only basic features.
RTO officials say, quadricycle fares will be same as those of autorickshaws and as per STA resolution, a new quadricycle permit has been issued, which features the same conditions as that of the auto permit.
According to a Tribune report, several other quadricycles that have been registered by the RTO will ply in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs initially before hitting the city’s western suburbs. However, much like auto-rickshaws, the quadricycle too will not be allowed to ply in downtown.
The four-wheeled quadricycle has the engine of an auto-rickshaw and has four seats including one for the driver and has doors to protect the riders from the elements.
Bhalekar, on his part revealed he would earlier ride his motorcycle to various areas on the job, but now prefers the quadricycle as it works out to be cheaper since it runs on CNG and the motorcycle runs on petrol.
Notably, Bhalekar paid Rs 3.35 lakh for the quadricycle, including the cost of registration and insurance and revealed that the overall cost was a little over a lakh more than what one has to pay when buying an auto-rickshaw.
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