Wheeler dealers

SEP 02 -Ram K Rijal

New motorcycles are being registered in Bagmati zone at a staggering rate of 5,000 units per month. While the official data might not carry much contextual significance, one can easily appreciate the growing dominance of motorcycles by just observing the streets of Kathmandu, especially during rush hour. Crossroads gridlocked with tons of motorcycles unfailingly portray a very telling story of their prominence. In fact, the commonplace two-wheeler commands huge popularity even outside the valley.

With roads ever expanding, motorcycles are continuously pushing the frontiers of geographic reach. Places that were devoid of any imaginable means of transport are now literally flooded with motorcycles. The amazing ease with which bikes can conquer highly obstructive terrains, their affordability and portability are some of the defining characteristics instrumental in pushing their popularity to the apex.

Motorcycles are especially favoured by youths who use them mainly for convenience but also for entertainment. Riding trendy bikes to college or on tours with friends has been one of the primary ingredients of youth culture. The misdirected shaping of the future generation is worrisome in part because youths falsely take pride in using motorcycles for total entertainment. The ubiquity of motorcycles will be better served if used in relation to helping youths become economically active. It is particularly relevant in societies like ours where 42 percent of the youths are unemployed.

an article by Ram K Rijal

Encouraging youths to embrace economic responsibilities is healthy though not so easy to achieve, especially if the implied transition calls for sacrifice. Additionally, motorcycles and growth are seemingly uncorrelated. One needs to see through the black box in order to understand the connection of the two. However, the link exists. As a matter of fact, countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and India have successfully found and tested economic applications of motorcycles.

Motorcycle taxis, a licensed form of transportation, has allowed passengers to beat traffic madness in many countries across the globe. It is, in fact, the most common and fastest means of transportation on the busy roads of Bangkok and Jakarta. Motorcycle taxis in the Indian city of Goa are much cheaper than other taxis. They can also be operated at the convenience of drivers, which makes it easy to balance part-time work and daily life. Drivers use the income to repay bank loans, start entrepreneurial activities or simply support their families. The increased income has also helped strengthen economic standings of the individuals. Many drivers in Cambodia, who previously rented motorcycle taxis, now own vehicles.

In Indonesia, a 2011 start-up called GO-JEK has been in the limelight for continuously discovering new methods of integrating motorcycles with businesses. GO-JEK uniquely painted its picture as an unconventional inventor when it graciously started the unlikely business of motorcycle powered courier service targeted at busy individuals. The system is designed to pick up and deliver goods to any location in Jakarta in the fastest time possible. The venture is also tailored to distribute invitations or tickets to events. For important goods, GO-JEK courier also has a mechanism to provide delivery confirmation service. The firm also runs a customer service call centre for easy accessibility to available services and information.

Motorcycles have also been employed to provide commercial and business solutions. In Jakarta, local firms work with motorcycle owners to ship goods and transport their employees. In addition, owners of large mall and apartments recruit motorcycle owners to provide transportation services to the beneficiaries. Introduction of a subscription system for large-scale users has provided sound impetus to establishment of reliability and trust that these wonder machines rightfully deserve.

Motorcycles have found usage even in shopping. For busy individuals or people who buy in bulk, the shopping service is a very convenient and cost effective method of achieving temporal efficiency. Youths as young as 15 can be seen rolling through the streets of Jakarta with huge bundles of shopped articles cleverly balanced in the back. Some even carry huge sacks of staples. Based on such successful experimentations and possibility of extension to untested innovative economic pursuits, it should not be hard to appreciate that motorcycles are not just innocent providers of entertainment or convenience but can also serve as powerful economic tools if used aptly.

It is in this spirit that the pervasiveness of motorcycles should now be leveraged to engage youths in entrepreneurship and innovation. In the context of Nepal, motorcycles could come especially handy while transporting local products to towns in the vicinity. We could certainly commence motorcycle-powered courier service in Nepal or more simply just motorcycle taxi service. The possibilities for youth engagement are plenty.  

Rijal graduated with economics and mathematics degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US and works for the World Bank, Kathmandu

This article is appeared on The Kathmandu Post