Over on The City Fix, author Benjamin de la Pena discusses  what a post-car future might look like - and he thinks it looks like a pedicab. Also called cycle rickshaws, pedicabs are green (human-powered) alternatives to motorbikes and cars, to be sure. But are they a "bottom of the pyramid" business, as de la Pena suggests?

Yes, BoP 'entrepreneurs' do rent/own and operate most pedicabs in the developing world. (Side note: check out this interesting article about the rickshaw bank.) To determine if they are really a BoP model, I asked myself - do pedicabs address the BoP penalty (price, quality and access)?

I suppose pedicabs are a lower-cost alternative to car or motorbike ownership, a higher-quality transport option compared to walking, and a more accessible form of transport as well. Answer: yes, pedicabs do address the BoP penalty in a way.

But pedicabs fail to capture an important aspect of the successful BoP business model - fulfilling the aspirations of poor consumers and producers with dignity. The BoP wants cars - not motorbikes, not pedicabs - because owning a car means you're in the middle class. And driving a pedicab is not a job with dignity - at least not yet.

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