What Auto-Rickshaws Reveal About Behaviour Design in Urban India

If you’ve ever driven a car in Mumbai, you know the feeling.

You're stuck in traffic, inching forward, when suddenly  from every angle  auto-rickshaws slip through the tiniest of gaps. They surge ahead, swarm the front, and break the rhythm of the road.

No lane discipline. No rules. No eye contact.

Before you know it, you're surrounded.
And you're left wondering: How is this even allowed?

Is This Just a Mumbai Phenomenon?

At first glance, it might seem like this is something uniquely Mumbai after all, the city runs on autos. But similar patterns are visible in cities across India: Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and beyond.

As a design thinking company working across industries and cities, we’ve noticed something deeper.

This isn’t just a customer experience problem or a lack of etiquette.
It’s a behaviour design opportunity hiding in plain sight.

Why Do Auto-Rickshaws Behave This Way?

There are plenty of theories:

●    They’re in a hurry.
●    They ignore rules.
●    They feel they own the road.

But look closer and the answer becomes clearer.

They do it because their vehicle lets them.

Auto-rickshaws are narrow.
They accelerate quickly.
Most importantly, their three-wheel design with a single front wheel makes it easy to poke through tight spaces.

From a behavioural science perspective, this is a classic example of affordance.
The form of the object invites certain behaviours.

What the Design Thinking Lens Reveals

As an innovation consulting firm applying design thinking methodology to real-world challenges, we ask a different question:

How might we redesign the auto-rickshaw or the road to reduce opportunistic overtaking, without taking away its utility?

That’s where human-centered design in India truly begins not with technology, but with empathy, systems thinking, and behavioural insight.

This isn’t about blaming drivers. It’s about:

●    Recognizing how design enables undesirable behaviour.
●    Identifying friction points that affect daily life.
●    Creating service innovations that improve the experience for everyone.

From Irritation to Insight

Rickshaws are vital to urban India.
But the traffic chaos they create especially during rush hour causes frustration for drivers, commuters, and traffic managers alike.

What if we applied behavioural research to better understand this?

What if design thinking companies collaborated with transport departments to pilot small nudges like dedicated rickshaw lanes, alternate turn logic, or redesigned front axles?

The result wouldn’t just be smoother traffic.

It could be a more empathetic, balanced urban mobility system shaped by insight, not impulse.

Final Thought

In cities where millions move each day, small design cues create big ripple effects.

So the next time a rickshaw cuts ahead of you, ask not “Why did they do that?”

Ask “What in the system made it so easy?”

Because at TinkerLabs, we believe:

Simple ideas move the world.
But they begin with noticing what others overlook.

‍