Common Man's Transport: Autorickshaw - Do meters do justice?

Autorickshaws (let's just call them "auto", shall we?) as we all know are part of common transportation across India. However, passengers are also victims of fare harassment from most of the drivers, owing to non-adherence of installed meters with government approved fares. I spent a good amount of years in Chennai where the meters are non-existent and auto drivers quote the figure only their minds know how they arrive at. I have had the habit of chit chatting with auto drivers in terms of understanding why they think the government rates are unfair. These are the usual reasons I get from them: 1. Rising fuel prices 2. Non-availability of return passengers from their drop-off point 3. Incompetent meter rates from government owing mostly to point#1 4. Rising living cost Nonetheless, my observation concluded that it is mostly the drivers' perception about the above mentioned reasons that has almost made them as a community to believe it and take this as a habit to quote on their own. I once took to the task of doing a realistic calculation while riding one, and even reasoned it out to the driver and asked him to think about it. I just thought it would be better to put it here as a means to reach out to the community at large. So let's do this. I'm going to take a known territory for me to illustrate this: CHENNAI. RATES: First things first, the government meter rates in Chennai are: (Source: RTI INDIA - Your right to know - the Compete Right to Information Portal of India) Government Approved fare for Auto Rickshaws plying in Chennai as per G.O.Ms.No 48 Home Department dated 10.01.2007 are as follows. Minimum Fare: Rs.14 (For 2 Km) For every Km: Rs. 6 Next, average mileage of an autorickshaw: 35 kmpl (Source: Wikipedia & local auto drivers) Petrol Cost: Rs. 80 per litre with oil mix(Approx). Hence, average cost per km: Rs 2.3 Average Maintenance Cost: Rs. 1000 per month (Approx) Maintenace Cost per day will be: Rs. 33 BASIC ILLUSTRATION: Case 1: Distance Travelled = 2 km. Fare: Rs. 14 Petrol Cost: Rs 4.6 Case 2: Distance Travelled = 5 km. Fare: Rs. 14 + (3* 6) = Rs. 32 Petrol Cost: Rs. 11.5 Case 3: Distance Travelled = 15 km. Fare: Rs. 14 + (12*6) = Rs. 86 Petrol Cost: Rs. 34.5 EARNINGS ILLUSTRATION: Let us assume that in a typical day, an autorickshaw takes about 30 trips with an average of 150km. His earnings for the day according to meter will be: Base fare: Rs.14*30 = Rs. 420 Additional Km Fare: Rs.6*90 = Rs. 540 Total fare: Rs. 960 Petrol running cost: Rs. 2.3*150 = Rs. 345 Maintenance cost per day: Rs. 33 Total running cost: Rs. 378 Average earning per day = Rs. 582 Average earning per month = Rs. 14550 Worst case scenario = Rs. 10000 per month. Not bad, huh? Since petrol prices have raised in the past 4 years after the revisal, a fresh rate card with better rates could be even good news here. Also, the night fares will be 1.5 times the day. REALISTIC ILLUSTRATION: Now let us look at realistic scenarios. Scenario 1: Central Station to T.Nagar Distance: 8km Actual Meter Cost: Rs. 14 + (6*6) = Rs. 50 Rate Quoted: Rs. 150!!! All they have to do is about 6 trips like this and voila, they got their earnings which they make with the meters on and about 30 trips!! So now we know why they demand their own fares! Some of them follow this knowingly for the greed in them takes over and some of them do it for the sheer ignorance and misconception that the government rates don't do justice to their hard work. If at least this misconception can be changed, even that minimal percentage will bring about a change! And what about Peace of Mind? Not just for the passengers, but also for the drivers! Imagine the stress they go through to negotiate and fight with passengers every time, every trip. So this is what I did – I asked the driver for the basic rates from his mouth and took up illustration with meter rates to make him understand in simple terms of what a dismal difference it makes in their earnings compared to bargaining. He somehow vaguely understood it. Then I told him to try it out for just 1 day and see how it works out. If he feels justified, he could continue. And if he is convinced, he could then talk to his auto stand peers about it and also ask them to follow the same. Like the saying goes, a small drops make a mighty ocean, right?

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