Malacca’s Cycle Rickshaws
- Now Only For Tourists

Melaka in 1983

It is sad but inevitable that cycle rickshaws, as a means of public transport, are facing extinction in Asia.  In Melaka back in the early 1980s, cycle rickshaws (or trishaws, or pedal rickshaws, or pedicabs or tricycles as they are also known ) were still used as a poor man’s taxi and they were a charming, unhurried way to get around the town centre which those days had far less traffic.  From a trishaw you could get a close up view of the streets and ask the driver to pull over anytime something interesting caught your eye. 

Melaka Today

Nowadays the few remaining trishaws in Melaka are elaborately decorated with artificial flowers and fitted with a boom box under the seat playing noisy music. They rarely stray far from the main square in front of Melaka’s old Dutch-era Stadthuys and Christ Church. The trishaw drivers prey on the coach loads of tourists and no doubt charge a good sum for a quick spin round the block or to pose for a photo.  Who can blame them? They have to make a living somehow and there is not much money to be made these days from operating trishaws as licensed cabs.


You can read more about Asia's disappearing trishaws on my Thrifty Traveller blog.

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AUTHOR BIO

cartoon of author with an orangutan

David (the one on the left) is the writer behind Malaysia Traveller, sharing firsthand travel advice from over five decades of living and travelling across Asia and the Middle East. Based in Malaysia since 2009 and now in Kuching, he has published 700+ pages, personally visited every place he covers, and uses only his own photos. Readers can learn more on his About Me page. He also shares updates on Facebook and YouTube. He loves uncovering overlooked places even many Malaysians have never visited.