The autorickshaw rip-off

It’s a nationwide phenomenon

During the last week of December, my family decided to have a short vacation in Chennai and Pondicherry. I decided against calling the pre-paid taxi following my better-half’s advise and instead took an auto to Secunderabad station .

We flagged down an auto, dumped our luggage and started our journey. My first instinct was look at the meter and there it was - a shining new, digital meter in which the digital lights indicated the starting fare as 10 rupees. Great – Autos in Hyderabad have come of age, I thought. A couple of kilometers later, the fare did not seem to be moving up, and I queried the auto driver about the frozen numbers. Prompt came the reply – Meter kaam nahin kar raha hai saab. Why, is this not a digital meter, I enquired. Yes Sir, but it is not working.

With no choice, I told him knew what an auto-rickshaw fare to the station would come to. He seemed to ignore it and continued to stare on the road ahead. On the way, I asked him to stop for a couple of minutes at the Airtel office at Vikrampuri to enable me to pay my mobile bill. Soon, we were at Secunderabad railway station and sure enough our man did not want to enter the auto stand in the station. Traffic police waale satate (The traffic cops will create problems for him).

He dumped us outside and I paid him 80 rupees, the fare usually comes to 70 on the good old tampered meter. I am paying you more, I reminded him. “But the waiting charge has to be paid saab, he reminded me.” Where is that showing I asked him, knowing well that his meter was not working? No saab, he pointed out to a series of tiny numbers at the bottom of the meter which showed that I had stopped enroute for 2 minutes, 35 seconds. But how does that work, when the fare units is not working. Wiasi hi saab, kya karen electronic meter hain naa, kuch bhi ho sakta.

It’s then it dawned that the more the things change, the more they are likely to be same. I cursed the Hyderabadi auto driver, only to realize that there was worse in store for me in Karunanidhi’s state.

Hiring an auto in Chennai is kind of getting pick-pocketed. Notorious to the core, the three wheeled brigade in Chennai don’t think twice in fleecing their customers. They do not put on their meters ever, and tell you to pay ridiculous fare without battling an eyelid. The Chennai Traffic Police and the state Transport Department seem to care even less. For those arriving at Chennai station, there is a pre-paid auto counter now run by the auto-rickshaw driver unions. The Traffic Police in Chennai in the initial stages tried to get a private operator to rein in the three wheel crooks, but the threats from driver unions forced the operator to flee. Now, like giving the keys of a treasury to a thief, the Chennai Traffic Police has asked the autorickshaw unions to run it themselves. Everything is hunky dry now, claim the men in white shirts. I wish the Chennai Police Commissioner takes a drive on these contraptions to realize how citizens of the city are being ripped off, everyday.

Worse was to follow in Pondicherry. As usual, no meters policy is followed and the minimum fare is 25 rupees, even if its just a kilometer. Question them, and the auto drivers will have standard answer - "Sir, This is a tourist city and so we have to charge this much." What kind of crazy logic is that I wondered.

Back from a five day trip, we reached good old Secunderabad only to find auto-rickshaw drivers inside the station offering to take you where you wanted to – you just had to agree to the price. I wonder how are the auto drivers allowed to enter the station and even openly solicit business. I refused, telling them that I would take an auto from the traffic police stand. "There is no traffic police to get you an auto. We have paid them and they will come only when we tell them to." they infomed me with a smile. So, resigned in defeat we carried our luggage and found an auto outside the station who would take us, and he did not even ask for anything extra. A rare species in Hyderabad, I demurred.

My dream lasted only for a while as I saw the meter (the old mechanical one, not a digital) skipping a beat just after the Gurudwara, which was less than half a kilometer from the station. Soon the numbers just started running like crazy, and I started hollering at the driver. Sab kuch theek hai, he said referring to the health of the meter. Even my daughter who was trying to read the numbers could not keep pace with the numbers which kept changing a slot machine gone crazy.

I soon realized that I was literally being taken for a ride, and called up the Trimulgherry traffic inspector, Pratap Reddy. Just as the auto driver heard the word Traffic Police, he panicked and all his bravura went for a six. On reaching Alwal, he started admitted that the meter was fudged, but blamed the owner of the auto for his predicament. and did not even ask for the fare showing on the meter and settled for Rs.70, literally fleeing after dropping us at home.

Later in the day, driving to my office I saw the snaking line of autos at Gymkhana grounds, with the drivers lazing around. It has been a regular sight for over a month, and my wife often used to sympathise with their patience. But after having dealt with the species for over five days, I have no sympathy for them. They deserve it and more.