Bengaluru man makes 'share auto meter’ for flexible pricing

A 54-year-old man from Bengaluru has made a digital autorickshaw meter to calculate individual fare while riding with strangers on a shared basis.

But the system of hiring autorickshaws on a shared basis doesn’t exist in Bengaluru, at least city-wide, so what use is this meter?

Shanmugam A, who built this device in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic with help from his software engineer-daughter, acknowledges the roadblock.

“I met staff members of the RTO (Regional Transport Office) but they said until amendments are made to the Motor Vehicles Act to allow shared autorickshaws in the city, they can’t do anything. But last month, the Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union (ARDU) asked me to talk about my meter at a B.PAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) meeting. Even there, people brought up the legal angle,” said the resident of Electronics City.

Shanmugam has studied till Class 10. The ‘share meter’ seems to be a culmination of his gigs at an electric company, as an autorickshaw driver, and now as a supervisor at a meter device manufacturing company.

He feels it is high time that Bengaluru makes provision for shared autorickshaws like Kolkata - Hyderabad recently imposed a ban due to unsafe practices. He says the benefits are obvious: Auto drivers can make more money in fewer trips; people will have one more public transport facility; it will reduce private vehicles on the road.

Pattabhi Rama, organising secretary of ARDU, echoes his sentiment: “Bengaluru is expanding. Its transport needs are expanding.”

Currently, only electric autorickshaws ply in the city on a shared basis from metro stations such as Indiranagar and Konanakunte.

How it works

Shared autorickshaws in India operate on fixed routes and passengers pay a pre-decided fare no matter at when they alight - a few metres away from the start or mid-way. But Shanmugam says his meter device offers flexible ride-sharing both in terms of distance and price. It can automatically compute the fare just for the distance travelled by each passenger. “It has three switches for three passengers,” Shanmugam says.

It is only a proof of concept and will need to undergo approvals by the weights and measures department and pilot runs. “Currently, we are testing it in three autorickshaws,” says Pattabhi of the auto union.