CHENNAI: Caught between overcrowded buses and out-of-reach cars? You can take an autorickshaw knowing full well that the driver is taking you for a ride. But if you ask the driver, he says it is to make both ends meet.

The recent fuel price hike has autorickshaw drivers asking for more. According to drivers and union leaders, the daily economics of running an auto in the city leaves them with no choice.

M.S. Rajendran, general secretary of Auto and Taxi Driver's Union, says the daily expenditure comes to nearly Rs. 450 including Rs. 220 as fuel cost (four litres of petrol plus oil to cover 100-125 kms), Rs.120 (rent to the owner), Rs. 25 (sundry expenditure) and Rs. 100 (driver's bata).

"On an average the daily collection will come only to Rs. 400. How are we supposed to get at least Rs. 100 at the end of the day?" he asks.

From the passengers, admits Kumar, who asked a flat Rs. 50 for a 5-km-trip.

Plea to revise fares

"There won't be any bargaining if there are proper meters and if the minimum fare is fixed at Rs. 15 (for 2 kms) and Rs. 6 for every km thereon. Now people are afraid of getting into autos," says Mr. Rajendran.

According to S. Thangam, president of Auto & Taxi union, Chennai, "drivers are ready" to install meters and even LPG kits if the Government takes the initiative.

"There are nearly 20 lakh persons who travel by autos daily," says Mr. Thangam.

However, the government is still "considering" the minimum fare hike for 48,900 registered autos in Chennai zone (Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram) while fuel prices have been rising at regular intervals.

"We will have to look at the rates in neighbouring States and fix the tariffs," says a senior transport official.

Passengers are left in the lurch, according to Madras Auto Passenger's Association president C. Lakshminarain.

"I don't mind paying more provided it is the rate shown by an electronic meter approved by the Government," he says.

Regular users of the three-wheeler vehicles note that the fares have gone up by at least Rs.10.

Left to haggling

Not a single autorickshaw in the city engages the meter in the past three or four years and the fare is always left to haggling.

Sri Shivakumar, who works for an FMCG company and moves between cities in south India as part of his work schedule, wonders how Chennai autorickshaws alone charge more than their counterparts in Bangalore or Hyderabad, for the same distance.

How is it that the drivers in Mumbai's suburbs can survive with a lesser fare, and that too going strictly by meter charges, when fuel or living costs are nearly the same across the metros, he asks.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail