Perils of Chennai

Metros in India are facing a tough situation trying to battle poor infrastructure and increasing vehicles. The credit goes to the revving economy and IT boom. On an average 600 new vehicles are added to the metro roads every day. Some new cities like Chandhigar, Hyderabad are planned are capable of handling vehicles but other cities like Bombay, Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai are in chock a block situation. Cities like Bombay, Chennai are surviving only because of the public transportation, but with bellowing needs the government and corporates need to encourage alternative transportation, car pools to be both ecological friendly and so that travel can be measured in terms of distance and not time. With the ever increasing petrol prices, to balance the treasury the Government raise the train and bus fares putting pressure on middle class and lower middle class income groups.

Chennai is the worst affected compared to other metros when it comes to autos. Every tourist and citizen of Chennai is scared traveling by the auto. The auto guys hawking outside the Chennai Central train station are ready to prey on your wallets. Isn’t that the best way to treat the tourists who visit Chennai? They mislead you and take you away from the pre-paid counters and if you are lucky to get through the pre-paid counters they complain about low auto fares to the passengers. The argument that you get into with the auto guys is unpalatable and often people are scared to negotiate because of the filthy language they use.

Autos drivers when confronted for extortion give a variety of excuses from peak traffic hour, early morning, late night, don’t get anyone from that area to continue my journey. We all have experiences to share when it comes to Chennai Autos.

The Government seldom realizes that it needs to fix the new ceiling for the autos. The auto fare/km was officially fixed in 1997 and since then petrol prices have gone up 200% and there has been no revision. Fare meters both analog and tamper proof electronic ones decorate the auto but are never used. When questioned about the usage of the meters the auto guys are very prudent with their reasons. They would either say the cable is cut or they would say no on uses meters these days. As a result the auto guys have started to fleece poor customers who are left with no choice but pay a premium.

Safety is another factor to be considered when you decide to travel by the autos. Guys who once drove cycle rickshaws have graduated to driving autos now. Another fact is that most autos that run in Chennai are owned by the traffic cops and are leased out. This means they have immunity from being charged or questioned for traffic violation until it involves a serious collision. Sometimes ferry passengers like a cargo without caring their safety and safety of other commuters on the road. There are other cities in India where the State Government has set regulated this mode of transportation. Officially, Chennai has about 40,000 autorickshaws, while another 10,000 or 15,000 run without proper papers, including permits. Drivers are often self-taught, have little or no education.

1. Revise auto fares to make it more affordable for both auto drivers and commuters
2. Make usage of meters mandatory for all autos
3. Prevent traffic cops from owning public autos - conflict of interest
4. Educate autos drivers on road rules and safe driving – mandatory 20 hrs of training per year
5. Fix slabs for late night and early morning trips
6. Strictly enforce number of autos that can run in the city
7. Auto drivers unions to create some welfare schemes

Our Kollywood has always portrayed the auto drivers in good light. Rajinikanth, the guru of auto drivers, had done an entire movie to show them as responsible citizens and don’t you remember the song “Auto caran auto caran.?” I am not trying to give our auto guys a bad press. We still have some honest drivers who ferry in the city. Some of them are reasonable, drive carefully, while some of them have even returned suitcases, cell phones and other left behind luggages with large sums of money to their owners. Chennai is a beautiful city and it recently got voted as the “Kindest city”, if we need to retain this title there are few things that need to be fixed immediately.

Feel free to air your views about Chennai Autos.