LUCKNOW, Jan. 6 -- It has been over two years since Lucknow police started its initiative to regularise mushrooming growth of e-rickshaw/e-autos, which impacts traffic across the city. In December 2023, then Lucknow's joint commissioner of police, (law and order), Upendra Agarwal, first started an initiative of colour-coded QR system to regularise them in 2024. After identification of routes, in July 2024, Lucknow police released 16 colour stickers (sized 320 by 525 px) with two shades of colour with a bar code in between with the number of their zone, and area's name on it. In all, 23,761 e-rickshaws were allotted the colour stickers using a lottery system. However, the move was scrapped after protests from the e-rickshaw drivers in the city. There was also a new JCP at the helm of affairs. Then again in July, 2025, a meeting with nearly 30 associations, current JCP (L&O) Babloo Kumar along with the traffic department, gave the initiative a new colour with a new name titled 'Project Safe Ride.' The initiative aimed to regulate nearly 50,000-60,000 e-rickshaws and more than 5,000 autorickshaws by mandating online registration, followed by QR-code tagging for easy identification and enhanced commuter safety. "The initiative aims to streamline public transport operations, bolster commuter safety, and weed out unregistered or potentially unsafe vehicles. The scheme makes it mandatory for all public transport vehicle owners and drivers in the city to undergo online verification and registration through the police department's portal," the JCP had said. However, two years have gone by (2024 and 2025) when similar initiatives were brought in the state capital first to regularise e-rickshaws. As the New Year dawns, the Lucknow police has been unable to bring any positive change, even as vehicle numbers soar daily, crippling traffic, especially in the Old City areas of the city. During HT's reality check, not a single e-rickshaw and e-autos were seen with such QR code, even though they had QR code for UPI payment. According to recent data shared by Lucknow RTO, the state capital has a total of 92,283 registered e-rickshaw (passengers), e-autos three wheeler (goods), e-autos-three wheeler (passenger). In 2025 alone as many as 4,874 e-rickshaws were registered while 13,719 three wheeler e-autos (passenger) and 140 three wheeler e-autos (goods) were registered....