They are all five feet tall. They always go forward. They have bigger brothers running around. There are thousands of them littered in the streets of Chennai from Redhills to Tambaram, from Avadi to Mylapore, from Valasaravakkam to Villivakkam. They easily move around the nooks and corners of the city. They are yellow in colour and are the most feared but also the most preferred. Yes, I am talking about those three- wheeled "friends" of tourists locally called 'auto'.
One of the first things that anyone coming to Chennai, knows about them is that their meters are useless. The rumour mills run that the meters are heated up, mechanically/electronically sabotaged etc etc. One month of frequent travelling (almost twice every weekday) by autorickshaw gave me a fair idea of the background of this problem.
A standard auto driver who hires a vehicle pays Rs 150-180 as rent per day amounting to a maximum of 5400Rs per month. Petrol in Chennai costs Rs50+ a litre. And the average mileage of an auto is approximately 30km (on the best case). Logically speaking in Chennai, a driver can cover 160 km in 8 hours of driving. The meter rate of Rs 7 per km gives him 1120 Rs and an earning of approximately 650Rs per day, deducting petrol and rental charges. But practically, covering a distance of 120 km per day is the best one driver can hope for. This halves his earning to about 350 Rs per day. So what does he do?
Every driver I encountered kind of gave me the impression (when I was chatting with them) that their primary aim of the day is to earn the rental charge for the day (Rs 180/-). Hence the pattern that I observed went like- trips in the morning proved costlier than that in the evening. Shenoy Nagar (my house) to Nungambakkam station is a 3km ride for which paying Rs30/- is reasonable. I pay that on return in the evening, but the morning trip I always end up having to bargain to reach the same rate. The bigger the distance, the bigger is the deviation, I believe. Their idea is to earn as much as possible in minimum number of trips to cover their rent, petrol. Once they reach that target, they relax themselves to drive for reasonable prices. So what is the solution?
The goverment could probably standardize the rental rates charged by the owners, based on the day's trips, with a nominal minimum charge fixed. That could basically reduce the pressure on auto drivers to pay the now fixed component- rent. Also the current meter system, considering the maximum rent paid of Rs 180/-, gives a driver just Rs 3.50/km to a driver or a maximum of 50Rs per hour, could be changed according to the standardization of the rent. Mind you, 15k per month without any HRA, PL, CL or any other benefits is not enough for a family man to lead a standard life in Chennai. So what can we do?
The best judge of the state of auto drivers is they themselves. So this is what I learnt to do if I do take an auto. Name a price (which I think is reasonable) to the driver. If he accepts, great!! Else, simply walk away to find another who fits your needs. The least we can do is not make them more miserable, than they already feel by fighting with them :-). Mutual agreement always rules over a bargained one!!
2 comments:
Again, you have impressed me, what a insight, witty and clever narrative and a fantastic solution, Wow, u would go to places HAri
Hi hari
Yes you are right.. I have used autos for like 2 years quite frequently and from my interactions with them I also observed something very similar (though not with your kind of insight). They earn roughly around Rs. 10000 to 12000 per month. The auto permit is really costly (can go up to Rs. 1-1.5 lakhs). Also, there are limited number of them allowed in the city. Hence, for a new auto driver, the responsibility is even more. Also, the bank doesn't give loans for auto drivers say for getting their sisters married etc.; So, they have no other way but to be unreasonable to their customers. Having said that, most of them are very lazy and not really focussed. If you drive auto for 8-10 hours (of course which is not really easy) you can earn Rs. 1000 per day. But, most of them are not willing to. Anyways, I liked your observations/analysis.
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