Reading the auto - graph

Reading the auto - graph
Deccan Herald

Did you know, that there are many Bangaloreans who move around in autos everywhere and end up spending anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 300 a day. No jokes this.

Like cricket everyone in Bangalore has something to say about our autos. For whether they are mobile and have wheels of their own or not, they all have to use the auto service at some point in their lives. Thus like cricket it is a kind of leveller. Did you know, that there are many Bangaloreans who move around in autos everywhere and end up spending anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 300 a day. No jokes this.

Evening gatherings are incomplete without someone or the other starting a conversation about our autos and soon everyone around has joined in what then becomes a fiery and fascinating discussion.

About having to argue endlessly with the auto-driver on the shortest route to take; about the faulty meters; about whether one and a half fare is justified after 8 pm, instead of 10 pm; about the demands for return fare from nearly everywhere, because the auto-driver is sure that he won’t get savari…. The list is endless. The new debate these past few months is between prepaid as against hailing your own auto, especially as it’s far more costly to travel by pre-paid than if you were to hail your own auto.

Take the newly installed MG Road Prepaid counter for instance. You pay roughly Rs 6 more for prepaid, than if you were hailing your own auto.

But these figures apply only with good meters. For instance, if you hailed your own auto and got a tampered meter, you could end up paying around Rs 3 over your fare.

But despite it being costlier to travel by pre-paid and the need to wait your turn patiently in a queue, there are several benefits from the pre-paid auto service.

Firstly you are not any more flailing every empty auto and being frustrated by their refusal to take you where you want to go. Today the cops have taken over this difficult task of convincing the auto drivers to go where the customer wants to go.

The other day, the cops even put three customers together in an auto, going to different destinations in Jayanagar, because they were fed up arguing with the other auto drivers, who didn’t want to go to Jayanagar.

Secondly with the fare being fixed, there is no need to get into endless arguments with your auto driver on routes, fares, tampered meters, one and half fares.

Thirdly with the cops noting down the registration number of the autos, it’s safer for women and expats to travel by autos now. It’s obvious the expats have taken to the system, as a large percentage of those queuing up at the MG road counter are expats.

The cops have also started handing out a questionnaire card to customers, asking them to fill it up and return the card to the nearest police station if they have any complaints against their auto driver.

So relax and get into your pre-paid auto. All you need to worry about is only pollution now.