Buggies to connect very last mile neighbourhood gaps

To bridge the very last-mile connectivity gap between the bus stop/metro station and home/office, a welcome green competition is about to begin: A choice between the e-rickshaw and the buggy, now limited to in-campus commute.

Moves are now afoot to move the buggy out of campus and be a legal commute option between the neighbourhood bus stop and the doorstep. Six-seater buggies dominate the fleet currently in Bengaluru, with options in four, eight, 11 and 14-seat configurations.

Introduced by the city-based Maini Group, buggies were first used primarily for closed, in-campus commute in hospitals, big corporates and educational institutions. The big shift came when these electric vehicles were launched in 19 railway stations across the country. The Bengaluru City KSR station was among them.

Buggies are yet to make a big presence at the Kempegowda International Airport, but Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and the Mumbai airport had introduced them years ago. About 100 of these battery-operated vehicles are used primarily to ferry senior citizens from the check-in gates till the boarding gates.

A Maini official informs that the six-seater buggies are most suited to connect the very last mile in neighbourhoods due to their ideal turning radius. "We will be competing with the e-rickshaws to enter this critical area, once this commute option is legalised," the official elaborates.

Many state governments across the country have proposed to define small areas in their towns and cities to introduce electric vehicles as a last-mile commute option. Once this opens up, the buggy population, which currently stands at an estimated 1,500, could go up substantially.

Beyond buggies, last-mile connectivity is also being tried with electric cycle rickshaws. A pilot was launched inside the city's Sanjaynagar two years ago. "Now, a lot of operators are willing to try this out. This could be an option to connect all inner areas of Sanjaynagar where buses cannot go," points out the city's first bicycle mayor, Sathya Sankaran.

In due course, notes Sankaran, the public will adopt these options in a big way. "Buggies, e-rickshaws and shared buggy taxis. We should try everything out. Ultimately, the economics of cost will decide."