Amid tightening restrictions on the use of trishaws in downtown Yangon, pedallers are calling on city authorities to resume issuing licences for the vehicles.
By THI RI HAN | FRONTIER
Photos THEINT MON SOE aka J
IT WAS 4pm and Pansodan jetty was crowded with people waiting to take a ferry across the Yangon River to Dala. Outside the jetty’s bustling entrance, food and fruit vendors offered their wares, as trishaw drivers waited at their stand for passengers and a journey that would begin on Strand Road, thick with big trucks, buses and cars.
The jetty is in Kyauktada Township, one of six in the downtown area where the Yangon City Development Committee has banned the use of trishaws. The other townships where the ban is in place – but not always enforced – are Botahtaung, Pazundaung, Pabedan, Lanmadaw and Latha.
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Theint Mon Soe — J / Frontier
“If you enter the restricted area, your trishaw will be seized and you will be fined K15,000,” said U Soe Naing, a trishaw driver from Seikkan Township whose vehicle is unlicensed.
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It’s his seventh trishaw; his six previous vehicles were licensed but only for use outside the restricted area.
“Because I entered the restricted area, the six trishaws were seized,” he said, laughing.
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Theint Mon Soe — J / Frontier
Soe Naing has been a trishaw driver for more than five years. He wants to change his job and has been trying to save money but his plans have been repeatedly disrupted by the seizures of his vehicles.
YCDC stopped issuing new licences for trishaws in April 2012. The latest figures show there are 26,445 licensed trishaws in the municipal area. A total of 12,369 unlicensed trishaws were seized by the YCDC between 2002-2003 and 2015-2016.
The drivers of unlicensed trishaws take a big risk of suffering a heavy financial loss if their vehicle is seized. Ko Aung Ko Ko, a trishaw driver from Tarmwe Township, said he paid K120,000 for his unlicensed vehicle. Today a licensed trishaw costs about K500,000, down from between K700,000 and K800,000 in the past, he said.
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Theint Mon Soe — J / Frontier
On a good day, a trishaw driver can make between K8,000 and K10,000, said Aung Ko Ko. On bad days, he said he only earns about K4,000.
Many trishaw drivers rent their vehicles. Owners charge K1,000 a day to rent an unlicensed vehicle and K1,200 for a licensed trishaw, Aung Ko Ko said.
Many trishaw drivers showed support for the National League for Democracy ahead of the elections last November by flying the party flag on their vehicles. Colourful processions of trishaws accompanied some NLD candidates when they were out campaigning.
NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi showed thanks for their support by honouring trishaw drivers at a function at the Royal Rose restaurant on January 3. The event gave trishaw drivers an opportunity to explain the difficulties they faced and to request solutions.
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Theint Mon Soe — J / Frontier
The main demand of trishaw drivers is more licences, said MP U Aung Htoo, who represents Botahtaung-1 in the Yangon Region Hluttaw for the NLD.
“We want to issue more licences systematically, but we will have to take time,” he said.
Soe Naing said that as well as more licences, trishaw drivers also needed access to finance.
“I want the government to make loans available to trishaw drivers [to buy their own vehicles] that can be repaid in installments,” he said.
