When I lived here from 2006 to 2009, it was easy to get a moto taxi or tuk-tuk…but you’d have to hope they knew where you wanted to go and negotiate a price beforehand to avoid paying a hefty foreigner increase. It was quite normal back then to get someone who answered “oh yes, I know where that is” and then have them drive somewhere totally different and, after being redirected, then renegotiate a dramatically inflated price because it was further than they had expected. Some savvy drivers would intentionally take a longer route in order to debate a higher fare. This was all quite difficult when your Khmer was still limited, you were in a hurry, it was the middle of a rainstorm, and/or you were going somewhere unfamiliar. We ended up getting quite good at giving directions in Khmer and learning how to get around. I never enjoyed haggling, personally, but some members of the team got quite skilled at it.

Motos are the fastest way to navigate Cambodia’s busy streets but tuk tuks are the next best alternative. They’re still small and nimble enough to flow with traffic instead of getting stuck in place like larger automobiles.

There’s a newer South Korean ride sharing app gaining ground in Cambodia called TADA! Hence the title. I’ve recently started to use them more because they’ve produced the ONION.

The ONION is an electric tuk tuk. TADA is setting up factories in many countries so that locally made ONIONs are driven locally. The ones being driven in Cambodia are assembled in Cambodia. The ONION tuk tuks are not only great for reducing noise and air pollution, but also more roomy due to the electric motor taking up less space than an internal combustion engine.

The TADA app supports many types of vehicles, not just ONION tuk tuks, so it’s a fun surprise when we get one. We hope to see more locally produced vehicles like this and to see Phnom Penh’s pollution levels drop correspondingly. Like the Voltra Matrix, the ONION is more affordable than imported alternatives due to being assembled in Cambodia. No import tax or shipping costs.

We hope in the future to see more locally produced environmentally friendly options that offer local employment and cultivate local expertise while enabling Cambodia to become a cleaner, quieter, and more sustainable place. We do plan, as with Voltra, to explore the possibility of organizing field trips from MCC’s vocational and primary school programs to visit the factories where the ONION is produced.