At the mercy of auto drivers

taking advantage

There’s no end to the issues that Bangaloreans face with autorickshaw drivers.
The newest complaint is regarding the behaviour of these drivers when it’s raining. Concerned Bangaloreans share their plight with Metrolife.

Overcharging is a regular problem with autorickshaw drivers. But during the rainy season, twice or thrice the fare is the norm.

Namratha BS, a software engineer who regularly travels by auto, says, “They just refuse to ply short distances, like two or three kilometers. Or they kick up a huge fuss and demand a bomb.”

She says that since it’s really hard to board a bus in this season, most commuters prefer an auto.

“Never do they agree to go by meter. And even if they do, they don’t give the change when one gets off,” she voices.

 Another regular commuter, Sanjog Patil, regional head with an MNC, says, “It’s bad enough getting an auto late at night. And when it’s raining, it’s even worse.

The auto drivers have their own set of rules when they see that the situation is in their favour.”

He details that a couple of weeks back, he had to wait for almost an hour until he finally got an auto as the other drivers just refused to ply.

 “I’ve experienced the ‘rounding off’ of the fare, especially when it’s a figure close to Rs 100. Also, they take their own routes and then complain about traffic jams, after which follows a quarrel about the overcharging,” laments Sanjog.

Arshika Jhunjhunwala, a college student who travels by auto frequently, shares an incident that happened with her a few weeks back while it was raining.

“It was almost 9 pm and I had finally managed to get an auto. The driver had asked for one and a half of the meter, which I agreed to. The auto driver drove through a route, which was gushing with water because of the rains and then stopped the auto saying that water had seeped into the engine and thus the auto couldn’t run anymore," she narrates.

She continues, “He asked me to pay right away and seeing that he couldn’t start the auto, I got off and paid. In a few seconds, he drove off with the change and I was left dumbstruck. Since it was pouring, I couldn’t even get the auto number.”

Authorities agree that this does happen. HG Srinivasa Murthy, vice president of the Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union (ARDU), says, “The autorickshaws are for the public and often, they do not ply like they should. Barely, 40 per cent of the auto drivers co-operate with the public.

This is a known fact. The ARDU has been telling the auto drivers that the better they serve the public, the more support they will be getting from the union. And we have tried our best to watch for miscreants.”

 Srinivasa adds that they have also asked the traffic police to provide training to auto drivers to ply by the meter.

The traffic cops say that if a driver refuses or overcharges, the SMS and IVRS complaint option at the traffic police website is always there and action is taken accordingly.