[shankar.balan]

well said Mr ChickenEgg!
Im sick of seeing the three wheelers creating havoc with their turning radius and causing serious danger to everyone else who are using the roads at the same time.

Originally Posted by kolimuttai

I say make it a four wheeler, and make them expensive and put a steering wheel...

Will solve 50 % of the issues like U turn on a one way road...

[sgiitk]

re Volvo: UP fellows are smarter. They have renamed (almost) all large buses, esp long distance ones Volvo!

[kreddy]

Dear All,

Their driving habits & other antics are descipable as it is, but there is one major concern which we all ignore. Noise Pollution.

Most of autos in Bangalore & Chennai have modified silencers and noise they create is harmful is every body but small children are worst affected.

Regards

[ElantraGT]

Originally Posted by kolimuttai

I say make it a four wheeler, and make them expensive and put a steering wheel...

Will solve 50 % of the issues like U turn on a one way road...

+1 to the highlighted part. The autos are really agile due to the Handle bars instead of Steering wheels. Changing the simple design to a sterring whjeel is going to reduce the rate at which they turn. Trust me when you take the agility away from these autos, they will become a less threat to the road user community. They sutill will be a threat unfortunately.

[AltoLXI]

No autowallah / their union will allow this to happen for sure. In fact anything that will threaten their earnings will be opposed. Even the authorities are afraid of these guys. As a result of the 12th October bundh the decision to paint the autos green has been postponed for a year and the smart card / digital meters will be subsidized.

Originally Posted by ElantraGT

+1 to the highlighted part. The autos are really agile due to the Handle bars instead of Steering wheels. Changing the simple design to a sterring whjeel is going to reduce the rate at which they turn. Trust me when you take the agility away from these autos, they will become a less threat to the road user community. They sutill will be a threat unfortunately.

[Spitfire]

Witnessed something that made me make out that I am not the only one frustated with these autorickshaw drivers.

This was at around 1845 - 1900 hours.Was waiting at the Bhagini Restaurant Junction just after MORE store for my wife to be dropped off by her company bus. I was on the AKME Ballet side on my bike.

2 ladies made their way to an auto standing a few meters away from me and asked to be dropped to Indiranagar. The driver doesn't bother to reply and looks the other way. The poor ladies ask again. He says 1.5. They say ok and get in. We are on the service road. Now the rogue starts the bike and immediately turns the steering to take a 180 degree turn, without looking behind. At these time the roads here are quite crowded. As soon as he does this, a biker - middle aged in his late 40's probably gets confused and somehow manages to negotiate his bike so that he does not hit the Auto. Note there was no contact.

The rogue gets off his Auto with the ladies still inside and starts yelling at the motorcyclist. The dazed motorcyclist takes a few seconds to gather himself and takes off his helmet and gestures to the rogue that he didn't show any signal.

That's it the rogue SLAPS the motocyclist without any provocation from the rider. By now a small crowd has gathered. I immediately park the bike and was running to help the rider. By the time i reach the spot, some local youth in a modified Getz, who have been watching for the few moments and are aware who is at fault, get off the car. And yell at the rogue. He doesn't bother and slaps the motorcyclist again. All this happens in a few seconds.

I manage to reach there and by then one of the guys from the Getz has pushed the rogue away from the motorcyclist. Seeing this the motorcyclist who now quite enraged fists the rogue in his face. Thats it. 7-8 people plus the 3 guys from the Getz start plastering the rogue. This freaks out the ladies totally and they jump out of the Auto and make themselves dissappear.

The rogue is now being pulled, pushed, his shirt is torn and his face has erupted with blood streams. Couple of Autos parked close by start their Auto's and flee. LOL.

By now more people have got in and are all having a go at the rogue. He runs but is caught again and the raining of blows and kicks continues. He starts yelling "AMMA, AMMA" and is crying now. One elderly guy manages to stop the crowd and asks the rogue to quickly get into his Auto and get away. He literally runs for his life. His torn shirt full of blood.

One of the guys who was plastering him was the security guy at the construction site next to AKME Ballet. I asked him, why did he join. He said, these Auto people create a lot of nuisansce around here and any chance anybody gets to beat them up no one holds back. He had a big smile on his face and it was contiguous.

[Roameo]

Till an year ago, I believed the rick was the next best invention after the electric bulb , i.e till I bought a car and stopped taking one to office. My perspective of the tri-wheeler somewhat changed immediaetly. Auto rickshaws are to cars like what hyenas are to Lions. A pain you know where.

Well, guess can't blame the good ol tuk-tuk, but the maniac inside driving it. With or without it, either ways it is a pretty hopeless situation, and we all know it. All we can do is learn to live with it. Like the Lions do. Or...switch to taking Namma Oto. At least till we get Namma Metro.

[sabynag]

In any business, the quality of a product or service is mostly determined by its customers. The vendor always provides the product/service at the lowest quality/spec at which it can command the highest possible price in the market. Auto service is no different. We get this level of service from the autowallahs because they know that we, the customers, are OK with this level at this price. No auto is hired without a customer asking for a ride - and in most cases, the customer hires the auto knowing fully about the expected quality of service and price. So, why blame the auto drivers when they behave the expected way ? If I see ourselves from an auto driver's point of view, I see ourselves saying "We don't like you and your service, but you have to provide us with your service".

We can write pages after pages in any number of social sites, but nothing is going to change unless we change ourselves first.

Next time, before hiring an auto, ask yourselves - "Why am I hiring this ? Do I have any alternative ? Why am I not taking the alternative ? Why is the alternative not "practical" for me ?"

Check if you can end with the thought - "I am compromizing excellence for convenience". Refusing to hire an auto is "not practical" because it is not convenient. The alternative is always harder, be it walk or public transport. Auto unions, police, politicians, government and everyone in the "system" knows our preference and designs the whole system in such a way that hiring an auto remains the most convenient option for us. The same logic holds good for our footpath quality, our overall infrastructure quality, police services, health services and everything else which we curse everyday without ever recognizing that they are that way because we prefer it to be that way. We are in a democracy - here the "system" will give us whatever we want. We wanted convenience, the system gave it at every walk of life. Had we wanted excellence, we could have been a different nation by now.

The developed countries are developed because there individuals seek the path of hardship creating all sorts of convenience for the society at large. We are under-developed because we, at individual levels, always seek the path of convenience creating all sorts of hardships for everyone else.

[GreaseMonk]

It's relieving to know that not all road-side-bashings are aimed at the guy who earns more money.

@sabynag: Lovely post.

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Couple of Autos parked close by start their Auto's and flee. LOL.

Now why did these two have run away. lol

[Nitin]

Got to say this with a tab bit of sadistic pleasure- serves the autodriver right!! Superb job done by the guys in the Getz & the other standing by. For once, the wrong-doer was put in his place, without having the support of a huge bunch of fellow autodrivers!
The other guys probably fled as they might have seen what happened, and seeing the fury of the guys in the Getz they decided to scoot rather than poke their noses in and end up with a bloodied face!

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by sabynag

In any business, the quality of a product or service is mostly determined by its customers.

Aren't we forgetting the monopoly being enjoyed by the Auto's at that price range? Once its a monopoly, we have to take what you get as there is no viable option.

The vendor always provides the product/service at the lowest quality/spec at which it can command the highest possible price in the market.

Again no competition.

Auto service is no different. We get this level of service from the autowallahs because they know that we, the customers, are OK with this level at this price.

No not really. We are not ok with the service. But since we don't have a viable alternative people are forced to take it. Lot of folks have moved to cabs. At 60% extra cost you can travel much more comfortably, faster and safer.

"We don't like you and your service, but you have to provide us with your service".

Whoa!! It sounds like. Hey I am doing a charity by riding around with you. But since its not a charity and you dont have an alternative i am going to fleece you as much as i can.

I dont understand the sympathetic tone towards the person using spoiling the setup instead of the "customer". We are forgetting something here?

Problem is their attitude knowing fully well that we don't have an alternative. Why would anyone like someone when they make demands that are not right?

We can write pages after pages in any number of social sites, but nothing is going to change unless we change ourselves first.

We write on social sites - which is totally voluntary. We are not expecting someone to read the above and start reforming the Auto guys. We know that . Where in this thread did anyone say we are trying to start a revolution by writing our rants on here.

But look at it this way it creates an awareness amongst us. We are more geared to what to expect reading other people's experiences.

Next time, before hiring an auto, ask yourselves - "Why am I hiring this ? Do I have any alternative ? Why am I not taking the alternative ? Why is the alternative not "practical" for me ?"

For the last 1+ year i haven't made use of an Auto. And a lot of others are doing it.

Check if you can end with the thought - "I am compromizing excellence for convenience". Refusing to hire an auto is "not practical" because it is not convenient.

Agree. I take the bus now. But i see a lot still taking an auto.

The alternative is always harder, be it walk or public transport.

Or perceived to be harder. A colleague who never took a bus because of his perception that it will be bad was throughly surprised by the service once he started using it. I have seen a lot of converts. The Director of Develpment at my firm takes a bus to work everyday.

The developed countries are developed because there individuals seek the path of hardship creating all sorts of convenience for the society at large. We are under-developed because we, at individual levels, always seek the path of convenience creating all sorts of hardships for everyone else.

Agree in totality [Sir Behram's words].

But a system that strives on giving the least and earning the max, won't last for too long. The Auto ad their unions are digging their own graves and we will see a huge shift once we have better options - Metro and the like.

Originally Posted by Gilead

Now why did these two have run away. lol

The area around where this incident occurred is notorious for a lot of antisocial elements and also we have a very less "elite" class who won't step out of their AC cocoons to help a fellow citizen in trouble. The people who were watching the incident and who rushed to the help of the motorcyclist were daily wage workers and some villagers from close by.

Originally Posted by Nitin

Got to say this with a tab bit of sadistic pleasure- serves the autodriver right!!

Yeah wasn't something that i expected to happen. Problem is the Autorickshaw driver instead of accepting his wrong and mending his ways will probably continue with his behaviour. And thats the sad part.

[Gansan]

Some cities have Auto Passenger Associations. Chennai has one. Among others, they are also consulted prior to fare revisions etc. but it does not have teeth. I wonder what would happen if it had.

For example the auto fellows call for a strike at the drop of a hat. Imagine what would happen if the passenger association suddenly calls for a boycott of autos for a day, and most of the passengers comply!

[zaks]

Feels good to know that this rogue was at the receiving end for a change.

Many of those running Autorickshaws are actually thugs for whom it offers idle time as well as legal occupation to cover up their other not so legal activities.

Do you think they would be acting like this if their livelihood depended on driving A.Rs hence no wonder they are so callous about customers and road rules.

Yeah, as someone said they are digging their own graves and it won't be much longer before these rickshaws will be weeded out of cities at least.

[kuttapan]

Once I caught an Auto from Yeshwanthpur railway station to Marathhalli. I have done this many times, so I know what the correct meter fare for this journey. I am usually prepared to give 10-20 bucks extra, if the guys ask for it, or if I like the Auto driver. One guy agrees to come for meter fare. This sounds fishy, so I tell him that I know the fare and in case his meter turns out be faulty, I will not pay the excess. He says, 'meter pucca hain saab', and starts. Halfway through the journey, I know the meter is faulty, but not by how much. I let the driver know of my observation, but again he says his meter is right. I say - we will see at the end. The meter has to be reset two times(apparently it stops at 110, yet to verify this) before I reach my destination. However, I calibrate the meter myself using a length of road I know and find that he is charging about 9.5 per km. I calculate the correct rate and offer him the same.

Of course he refuses to take it. And the argument continues. I decide to teach the guy a lesson. Ask my wife to come down and take care of my bags, and then ask the driver to drive to the neext police station, and that I will not pay for the ride to the station. He refuses initially, but I stand my ground and refuse to pay him or get out of the auto. He relents and starts the auto, but goes to a nearby local auto fellow and asks how much it costs from Yeshwanthpur to Kundalahalli(my house). Ridiculous question, so he does not get an answer. Now he is in a real quandary, and I get into an aggressive mode, telling him that I will teach him a lesson. He now wants to get out of this situation somehow and asks me to pay the normal fare. I don't budge, lot of my time has been wasted and I decide I will take him to task.

However, auto guy is real scared and starts his auto and takes a U turn and again takes me in front of my house and asks me to give the normal fare. I realise he will not come to the station at any cost and decide that enough is enough, the auto driver has got the message. So I pay him the regular fare and walk away. I wait for him to go away, and he took a minute or two to collect his wits and start the auto.

The look on his face before he went away? Priceless to see