Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Pedi Cabs category.
The Pedi Cab Program…it works…
Pedi Cabs, short distance local transport. Basically a bike with a side car on it, for passengers or goods transport. A poor persons job.
There would nearly be no people working in this industry who own their own Pedi Cab, the rent it for varying amounts of money, from some one who might own 100 or more. The rental price is relatively expensive and is paid daily to the owner. To ride in one of these is a cheap, but negotiable price bwtween 10 – 50 pesos per ride. The rental can be anywhere between 50 – 120 pesos per 12 hour period. We have known people who work in this industry to ride their Pedi Can all day and come home with enough money to buy a couple of kilos of rice – not enough to live on.
So we developed a program whereby we produced 40 Pedi Cabs, had them made brand new. We selected drivers from people who were already working in this industry and we gave them a Pedi Cab. They still have to pay us a rental, but our rental is onle 10 pesos per day (whole day, 24 hour period). This 10 pesos per day is then used to send one of that drivers children to school for the year. So the driver is giving us 10 pesos and we organise and facilitate for their child to go to school, it’s nearly like a forced savings plan – we get no profit from the rental, the drivers child recieves his rental via education.
The benefits to the program are many fold – before the driver only had his Pedi Cab for 12 hours of the day, but now he has it in his possession everyday, all day…so dad can ride it all night or day and an older son can ride it whenever it is not in use, so they can double their income if they are prepared to work . This allows the husband more family time, he can even take the odd day off so that he can attend something at school with his child or help the mother at home.
This program has been running for nearly a year and it works. It is changing peoples income and their attitude to life…hope has come, there is now a reason to work a bit harder and try a little more.
To produce a Pedi Cab, register it and license the driver costs AUD $350 per unit, once the driver has the unit, the program is self funded. Another great way no only to change life, but to lift financial pressure off of a whole family.
Finding Ways to Help the Poor
It is not always easy to come up with ways to really help the poor. Of course we can do a whole heap of things that do help in varying ways and for varying lenghts of time, but how do you really change some ones life with an easy, long term solution…?
PEDI CABS – a short distance, low cost, public transport type vehicle…
Many people in Asia ride some form of Pedi Cab as a means of employment. As with many industries, the person who actually does the work gets the least pay, and it is true in this industry. Most of the people who ride the Pedi Cabs do not own them, they rent them from some one else. The rental price varies depending upon the area the Pedi Cab (Unit) is ridden. If it is ridden in a high traffic area, or a market area the rental might be as high as 100p (AUD 2.50) per 12hour day. It does not sound all that much, but when you realise that the average fair might be 10-15p per trip, you need approx’ 8 fares to pay your rental, before you begin to earn any money. Now add to that equation this – the Units can only collect passengers within their registered zone. You can take a passenger outside of your zone, but you must ride back into your zone to collect a new passenger. We knew people who worked in this industry, and they could sometimes work a 12 hour day and after they had paid their rental, they could come home with 40 or 50p. 1kilo of rice is 30p, not much too feed your family on after a whole days work…
So…we give out Pedi Cabs, to poor people already working in that industry. We don’t give them for free, we charge 10p (1/10 the going rate) per 24hr day to ride one of our Pedi Cabs. The 10p we collect daily from the rider is then used to send one of the drivers children to school for a year (we make NO profit at all), BUT the driver gets a cheaper rental rate, one of his kids in school (which he is effectively paying for), he does not have to work as many hours per day, he has the unit in his possesion, so he can ride it in the night and perhaps an older son can ride it during the day, potentially doubling the families income and as a bonus, we let him ride sundays for free…and it is working, it is increasing incomes, increasing family time and increasing how many of his children can attend school.
Must of been a God idea, not just a good idea…
