Please note my grievance against an issue with Auto Rickshaws in Chennai.

I have joined a job with leading IT company in Chennai. I have come to this part of the country for the first time. The problem what I face is traveling in auto rickshaws. First problem, They don’t use meters at all. Second, They ask whatever price they want to. Ex- Rs.100 for 4-5kms and Rs.150-180 for 9-10km, which is completely unacceptable. Third, They don’t want to go where I want to. All these problems lead to a big hole in my pocket as well as lot of harassment in terms of bargaining. In the end, I am helpless, have to pay more and go to desired destination. This is not a situation only with me, but also with others in my contact. This is very sad, because the Auto Rickshaw union, City Police and Govt. of Tamil Nadu is keeping mum to this situation in Chennai. (Both local people as well as the ones new to the city). I have been to other cities in India where this rarely happens. Whereas in such a big metropolitan like Chennai, its unacceptable. At least Police should help, as in they should not allow auto rickshaws to ply without meters down. All are answerable, Auto Rickshaw union of Chennai, City Police and Govt.

You have raised a valid issue which is as old as the autorickshaw services in Chennai. In fact, Chennai is very famous for its notorious auto rickshaw services as the drivers are in the habit of fleecing passengers.

The auto rickshaw service in Bombay is better organized and the rates are reasonable. Autos have meters and they are running too. In Kolkata, the autos are not run on contract carriage basis. Here the autos run on share basis as a stage-to-stage carrier (in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act 1983). Even on share basis, the rates are reasonable. But in Kolkata the problem is that most of the autos run without permits and proper papers. Due to party-backed unions, the auto service has gone out of State Govt.’s control.

I have travelled by auto in other parts of Tamil Nadu where the rates are high but not exorbitant like in Chennai. There is a general perception that those who work in the IT industries are ‘milking cows’. Many believe that ITiens are economically well placed and are good spenders. But this is definitely not the ground for charging exorbitant auto fare.

The Tamilnadu Government by its Order G.O.Ms No. 48 of 10-01-2007 has revised and stipulated the auto fares as follows:

Minimum Charge – Rs.14/- for two kilometers
For each kilometer – Rs.6/-
Waiting Charge – Rs.40 paise for 5 minutes
Night hour fare – Day time fare plus 25% extra
Night hours – 10 p.m. to 5 a.m

On the basis of the above rates, say for a distance of 5 kms the auto fare should be Rs.32/-. If it is night time then the fare should be Rs.40/-. But, as everyone knows, these are all only on papers. Though the autos are fixed with meters, the meters are never run. Passengers will have to hard bargain for better rates. New persons will definitely suffer but, in due course, many either get used to paying more or learn to bargain.

I am not sure whether a grievance lodged by an individual will have a desirable effect on the faulty system which is well set now. I often hear that there are many vested political interests in the running of autos and it may therefore not be possible to reform the present system. So all the complaints are bound to fall in deaf ears.

Does that mean there is no remedy? I do not think so. It is advisable to make a joint petition to the Government of Tamilnadu, the Transport Department and to the Police. Rather than lodging a complaint against any particular auto driver it is better to make a petition in general.

As an individual you can write to Chennai District Collectorate at collrchn@tn.nic.in marking it for the State Transport department.
If you know Tamil or can get hold of someone knowing Tamil, you can lodge a complaint on at http://chennaigdp.tn.nic.in/online/

You can also write to the Transport Commissioner Office whose contact details are as follows:

(1) Mr. Machendranathan, I.A.S, Transport Commissioner, Transport Dept.,
Tel: 28520682(Dir), 28414550, Fax: 28214988

(2) Frank Stephen Louis, Joint Transport Commissioner (Rules)
Tel: 28520682(Dir), 28414550 Fax: 28412244

Though I am not sure whether the above process will produce any fruitful result, but in any case it is worth a try.

Its not something new happening to someone from outside Chennai or Tamilnadu. There are two points, the autowala’s play around.
First is that bieng new to the city u dont know the exact places/ location and its geographical positioning. So u never know how far is the place u intend to go to. I have seen autowala’s charging rocketing 200 for a place which was actually at the opposite side of the road.
Second is that since we dont know “tamil” we cant understand and argue with them and few of us give them whatever they ask due to this reason and a small chunk makes one self haapy by bargaining 5-10 rupees.
I dont see any immediate solution to it for it would not have been possible in the first place if the system was robust. Its all a tailspin.
Sometime it makes me feel, though bieng chennai (very much India) im working onsite
There is only immediate solution i can suggest….. buy a car or bike whaichever suits ur requirement.

We understand that Chennai Traffic Police has introduced a postcard system to enable autorickshaw passengers to lodge complaints against the erring drivers. These cards would be made available at places like railway stations, bus terminus, banks, shopping malls and restaurants. To lodge a complaint one has to collect the complaint card fill in the necessary details like auto number, incident place, date and time and then post the card direct Additional Commisioner of Traffic. Of course, one should not forget to fix the required postage stamp as the card does not come with pre-fixed stamp.

The ACP(Traffic) was quoted as saying “Many passengers are making general complaints about autorickshaw drivers. But we want them to be specific in their complaints and that’s why we introduce this post card system to enable us to act promptly.”

It is expected that the system will also help identify regular offenders among auto drivers. The traffic police will record the name and registration numbers of these autorickshaws and also the number of offences committed by the drivers

The Forum invites feedback on the effectiveness of this system

Let them fly without meter (It never going to happen) let them be rude. Why can't they follow the road discipline and noise pollution.

Every Auto plying in Chennai are making noise with open silencer they won't bother whether hospital, school or residence. Why can't our government and police look into it at least. Since they are in public service there should be little discipline. They cannot do whatever they want because they have a union.
Let our traffic police do something about it.

i know it is an old issue. but it is alarming that these autorickshaws in chennai continue to exploit the customers by demanding flat rates which are very high. the attempt by the government to regulate them has failed. but it seems the commuters are happy this way. no one seem to protest are even registering a compliant. i once did so through SMS and got immediate reply that they would take action. nothing has ever happened till todate. can anyone suggest to put an end to this

if there is onething that makes living in chennai unpleasant, its that auto drivers. in most cities i have been to, most auto drivers are good, one comes across only a few bad ones. here its the other way round. there are hardly any decent drivers. not only do they fleece money out of passengers, they do get aggressive. my wife was subject to such treatment from one of the auto drivers who wanted more than what they had agreed during the start of the journey.

fares are completely subjective and illogical. i wonder why is the police and govt mum over this issue!!! these men are cause of bad image for the city and country

couldn't agree more. anybody decent enough wouldn't even become an autodriver. that too in chennai they chase u while u drive for the sole reason of overtaking them when they are going at 10km/hr. they drive at 70km/hr when they have the passenger to finish the ride fast and get the next one. i bet any autodriver in chennai is either a rowdy or indecent....except very very few exceptions.