WHERE EAST MEETS WEST

IS it a horse? Is it an engine? No it's a person on the run... After a long day's journey into night, revellers might be forgiven for not believing their eyes when they encounter the latest in Dublin transportation - the rickshaw.

Dubliners and visitors alike are bemused when they meet the new rickshaws. One of the runners, Jane Whelan explains: "I told this woman what we were doing and she said: `Ah no! You're not serious!' Another man from London asked me would I like to go home to England with him and he would get me a real job," laughs Jane as she scoffs her third, energy giving hamburger of the evening in Grafton Street.

The rickshaw is a light metal frame over two large wheels which is pulled by a runner between shafts and the Dublin variety seats up to three people. Rickshaws were popular in Japan and China in the last century until they were replaced by the pedicab, a form of bicycle, and then by the modern motor taxi.

A group of students who are fluent in several languages are running the rickshaw service, which centres on Temple Bar. Runner Michael O'Kane, says: "I studied marketing and languages in DCU and I speak German and Spanish. If a tourist wants to be brought around and `chatted to', we do that. The rickshaw service is a local taxi from bar to restaurant or night spot."

The runners are already old hands at negotiating the city's streets. Aedmn Morkan says she has discovered where the hills are in Grafton Street and Suffolk Street. "We were a bit tired after the first few days; but you just get yourself ready for the hills as they come up. Wet cobbles in Temple Bar can be tricky though."

Law student Sinead Fitzgerald is a director of Sprintz Transport Ltd, the company that makes the rickshaws and then leases them to the students. "There is a rickshaw service in San Francisco and Toronto and New York. There is none in Ireland so we thought it might work here."

The company has 10 carts on the streets on any evening and the students pay a flat rental fee for the unit which they operate themselves.

Kevin Martin is general manager of Sprintz Transport: "We operate a dispatch service for hotels as well. And at the moment we have plans for the full tourist service until October. We will extend that if weather permits."

The running rickshaws add a touch of fun and character to a city not known for its shrinking violets. As the city of Joyce and Kavanagh lurches into the next millennium rickshaws from the previous century now bring people around the old haunts of Dublin's characters. But where Dubliners are never stuck for a word the civic authorities seem to be stumped.

The regulators are at a loss for a vehicle classification for rickshaws. There is no horse, there is no engine: a runner is the means of propulsion. A Garda spokesman said: "There are some horsedrawn licence regulations there since the year dot. But we're not sure which of them would cover rickshaws."

And a spokeswoman for Dublin Corporation's taxi licence section said: Rickshaws are not covered by the regulations. We do not licence them at all. A public service vehicle has to have an engine for us to licence it."

But three visitors from Donaghadee in Northern Ireland couldn't care less about regulations. David Irvine, Jim Munn, and Davy Porter on a visit to Dublin thought the service was wonderful: "We're having a super time. It's a great atmosphere. We're heading for a cocktail bar and we have booked him for the way home. It's very original. We've seen it on TV but we've never seen it in a city."

The nominal charge for the passenger is £1 "a block" per person, with special runs being negotiable. The majority of the rickshaws operate between 5 p.m. and 1 a.m. weekdays; with weekends seeing shifts of 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. and some runners out till 3 a.m. around Leeson Street for the late clubbers.