Seeing a free auto at 7.30 am may never have been this easy. But getting one to take you to your college that’s over six-odd kilometres away, couldn’t be harder. Ever since the rate card regulation came into effect, auto drivers have begun to turn down customers who want to travel to a destination that involves crossing a ‘checkpoint’. As many as eight auto drivers along the Arcot road stretch enquired where we wanted to go. The minute we said “College Road”, they shiftily turned away and said something about waiting for ‘school savaaris’.
When asked why they weren’t jumping at a trip that would have normally fetched them Rs 140-160 in the pre-fare era (last week), Govardhan, who operates from a stand near SSR Pankajam theatre said, “We have to cross either Loyola College or Valluvar Kottam. Even if the meter-checking team is not at these spots, traffic policemen stop us and ask passengers if we’re using the meter. When they say ‘no’, we are fined or worse, delayed for an hour during peak hours. This is why we don’t take fares that involve crossing central checking areas.”
Adding to this, Siva, who also parks at the same auto stand chips is, “Either we can’t charge what we need to charge for such a long trip and face a loss, or we will have to risk getting caught and paying the police unnecessary money, besides losing the fare if the passenger is asked to find another auto.” He adds that the latter happened to him near the Kathipara flyover in Guindy on Tuesday, costing him a Rs 200 fare and a ‘fine’ of Rs 50.
Arumugam S, who is a unionist with the CITU auto union and an auto driver in Choolaimedu said that most of his younger colleagues had taken to using smaller roads and detours to avoid police detection, “But one of my boys was shocked when he parked his vehicle at the owner’s house on Monday night, because the owner had been called on by a policeman. Apparently one of his passengers sent an SMS to the complaint number and also said that he was overcharging and taking a longer route to drive up the price. “It’s not easy being an auto driver these days,” he says. For women students and IT professionals who need to reach their bus pick-up point, this is particularly difficult. Some like Sangeetha Sivan, an employee of Accenture, had to take half-a-day’s leave after missing the bus to OMR — all because she couldn’t find an auto willing to cross the Ashok Nagar junction, at the ‘fair’ price. “I was so frustrated that I finally asked if they would come at the inflated rate and even then they refused because of the checking.”
With almost 50,000 autos in line to get meters calibrated and receive the official rate card, the hope that they can still rely on the auto as quick means of transport in the morning is diminishing.