+ Vicinity | Trishaw Revived

One of Tampines Town beautiful public housing

Read in the news a few days ago about a dying trade in Singapore - oldest of transportation using human power - the Trishaw.

Now, you would see Trishaw men plying through the tourist spots with loud disco-punk music blasting over the mini-compo strapped to it. They would move in droves in a convoy filled with happy faces tourists.

I should know the feeling of these tourists because I loved riding in one when I was in my early primary school days.

I remember that our Mom would sometimes hire a trishaw for the 3 of us - Mom, my elder sister and me who would be 7 and 6 years old respectively for rides home.

Our early school days was at Teluk Kurau Primary School.

The trishaw man would cycle from our school to Kaki Bukit Bus Depot, maneuver through potholes and dusty roads, avoided trailing behind the exhausts of trucks and busses, through rain or shine, but we would reach our destination safely anyways.

From there we would have to walk about 20 minutes into our Kampong and reach home.

Besides taking the bus, an alternative but slightly expensive "public" transport was definitely the Trishaw. Mom would have to negotiate the fare before we can hop in.

Once in, I would always get to sit at my favourite spot - on a wooden stool right in front. While my Mom and Sis would sit on the two-seater plastic-covered plush seats that had either a covered or left open-aired fan-like canopy.

I remember the rides vividly, as if it was only yesterday. The street was quiet except for the squeaking and clanking of the trishaw chains when the trishaw man peddled.

The breeze and the scenery throughout the journey. Just heavenly, as though I was flying. Many happy thoughts throughout the journey every time.

On rainy days, the trishaw man would pull down a tranparent platic shroud on all 4 sides to keep the rain out. I would hear the rain drops onto the covers and watched the drops trickle down in front of me. Stuffy at times, but defintely worth it for me.

Sometimes, the peddler would stop a while to put on a poncho. Others did not mind to drenched wet though. Tough life for these men. Tough men indeed.

My mom knew I liked the rides because my face lit up every time she told me that we would take a ride home. And sometimes, I would paster her to take one anyway.

She would also hire on for the ride home whenever after she did her shopping in the wet market called Central Market in Eunos.

That would be her treat for me to help accompany her to the market and carry the groceries back home.

We would do this over many years, until I remembered that there were not as many Trishaw or as easy to see one anymore as the public transport got more comprehensive.

Of course, I was no longer small enough to fit sitting on a stool, and became big enough that only my Mom and me would fit in one trishaw. It would be too heavy for the poor trishaw man to peddle us both, let alone going uphill.

I dwell too much in the past. Coming back after a reality check... I think the trishaw should be revived and brought back to the heartland, the HDB estates.

People can use this cheap and eco friendly tranport to get around the estates. The trishaw is also big enough for groceries. It would be ideal to use the trishaw from wet market shopping.

No potholes, no dusty roads, just a great way to get around the estate and between estates too.

It would be a great and unique addition to our local way of life again, not just for tourists, but for the younger generations too like I want my son to experience the Trishaw rides.

What say you... MPs and RCs?