Auto-nomy of Autorickshaws

[Put your city name] autorickshaw drivers are evil, greedy, and uncivil anti-social elements.

This statement seems to have more support in Kolkata that both Mamta Bannerjee and Buddhadeb Babu's followers put together; or in Bangalore than all the Dravidian parties put together. It is also a frequent topic of discussion at most (well..middle class) social gatherings. The interesting thing is (at least for me) that there is little or no debate. It is a simply a one-way rant. [Any Indian city name] auto-drivers are scoundrels of the first (or even better..zeroth) order and that’s simply the end of the story. Since the unfortunate victims of this country-wide badmouthing orgy are usually not invited to middle-class social gatherings to narrate their side of the story, I have decided to play Devil’s advocate. As people see it, they are the devils and I am their advocate. I enjoy taking unpopular positions and I dont mind being clobbered for being so obviously on the wrong side of the issue.

Let’s a first get a few things straight. Very rarely do I ever encounter an honest, transparent and law-abiding auto driver in India. Just imagine my role as being a public prosecutor for a criminal who is not going to be able to attract any decent lawyer to defend him. All I am going to do is to ask some unasked questions and do my lawful duty by making an honest attempt to see things from the auto drivers’ perspective.

So let’s list down all the unquestionable “truths” about Indian autos and see if they stand up to some semblance of scrutiny.

Auto drivers use a lot of disrespectful and foul language.

Right. No debate about that. Auto drivers are not known for their politeness. But are we perhaps possibly dealing with a cultural difference here? An average Punjabi uses extremely profane curses as punctuation, prepositions and conjuctions (and the occasional interjection) on a day to day basis, but most people in North India may not take these curses literally. The day to day struggle of those below the middle class is expected to produce the occasional outburst of rudeness interspersed with the actual intended communication. And by the way, my educated and well-behaved husband also uses words beyond any strech of my imagination when he is driving.

The point: Dont read more into the language than is necessary. Politeness and propriety are often linked with socio-cultural backgrounds. Germans are rude. Americans are brash. Brits are snobbish. Auto drivers are ... like that.

Auto drivers are rude and uncouth

I know this is a little way-out, but have we ever stopped to consider how we behave with them? Do we all behave like angels? Or do we perhaps show a little bit of that age-old Indian class superiority (Caste..I am afraid is a bad word nowadays) when dealing with people who are, from an socio-economic standpoint, below us? Is it just possible, just a little, that a lot of us in the middle class are simply not used to “those sort of people” answering back or being assertive? Is there a slender possibility that we are part of this vicious circle of uncivility?

Auto drivers overcharge and do not respect government stipulated rates

Let’s ask this question. What is the “correct” rate for auto travel? How do we know that the government has not set ridiculously low rates, rates that keep the auto drivers in grinding poverty? An average Indian auto driver makes 30 rupees, while driving through nightmarish traffic. Just a thought. And about abiding by "government" stipulated rates... tell me something, how many of us providing services ever think about whether the charges we levy for our services are over or underrated? A doctor's fee, a lawyer's fee, a consultant's charges - r they all justified? The rare the skill of a doctor, the more he charges! A specialised doc will charge more than a regular MBBS... then why an autodriver will not charge you double the rate when it comes to hailing an auto at night, or when the supply is less??? Its economics, you see.

I believe standalone Meter regulated fares will never work. Auto drivers will always find a way to “heat” them up. So it is important to realize that there are 3 forces at play in this game. (The game is defined as the “negotiation” between prospective commuter and the auto driver)

1. The fare that the commuter is willing to pay
2. The fare that the auto driver is willing to expect

One of the problems is that the commuter does his calculations based on

1. An assumption that the auto driver is anyway likely to state an inflated fare
2. The amount he can afford based on his average earnings etc
3. An approximate idea of general economic inflation, government approved meter rates etc

While the auto driver does his calculations based on

1. The percentage of the fare that he will, in any case, have to pay as “hafta” to corrupt policemen
2. His understanding of inflation and prices of petrol etc
3. His estimation of
   how well off the commuter is
   how urgent is the commuter need
4. His desire to lead a life at a level above that of slum-level existence.

In this sort of an unbalanced game, I am just wondering if we should apply a free market model to autos. Of course, we will have to solve the problem of police ownership and cartels, but I think, a variable pricing model could work moderately better than what we have today. We accept variable pricing in a lot of situations - property rates, airline tickets, tatkal railway tickets etc. So how about a three tiered model of

• basic autos - with low end fares
• Mid-tier autos
• Luxury autos

The numbers of each one of them will be determined by actual demand. Further, a series of call-centres (kind of like the Call-taxi model) that log all auto journeys (start distance, end distance) and also monitor the legality of the meters. Auto drivers should also rotate between the three tiers to make the system fair for everybody. Where the government can play a role is to pay some sort of a monthly stipend to auto drivers that will go a long way to improve their lot and potentially reduce their desperation to cheat and fleece. How will the government pay for this? We could consider a per fare tax on mid-tier and luxury autos that the government earns.