Auto-Pyaari

Anyone who has been to Bangalore are well aware of the importance of autowallahs for the purpose of commuting in Bangalore. No matter how many vehicles you have, you will definitely be using the services of one of these quintessential auto-wallahs during your stay in Bangalore.. they rule the road so to speak.. it is with this in mind I chose to write about these "rulers of the road"….

With every passing day their costs are increasing and so are their tempers. Imagine this just around 5 years back an auto wallah used to start with a basic fare of 8.80 (yeah thats right) for 2 km and increments of around 20 p with every additional half a km. Fast forward to present day Bangalore the meter starts with 14 bucks and which keeps increasing by 50 paise every 250 metres or so… the same distance I used to travel in 20 bucks costs somewhere around 45-55 bucks… thats more than double the costs..

Okay now lets talk about something besides the cost factor… increasingly there are news of disruptive behavior from these guys… with every passing day they are becoming more and more notorious. Also there is always a 100% chance that the first auto you take will not agree to take you to your destination. You need to wait for an average 2-3 before you can get one which takes you forward....

But is everything about these guys are heading towards doom's end… absolutely not.. like I mentioned at the beginning of this post they are literally indispensable… mobility in and around Bangalore would have been a lot more difficult if it was not for these guys to help you out… they are also the saving grace in many occasions and an easy way out when you want to beat the traffic and above all the trauma of parking your vehicle in the central business district.

Back to some more stats (yeah the idea of business school is taking a toll on my head and my fascination with stats), I happened to spend around 6 days in Blore on my return from US enroute Kol… and I happened to use their services around 3-4 times a day for average distances.. guess how big a hole did I burn in my pocket… just around 1200 bucks (yeah!!!!!!)