From refusal to ply to charging extra, tampering with the meter to demanding extra for excess luggage, the problems are galore. On an average, the Pune regional transport office (RTO) receives about 60 complaints against autorickshaw drivers, but barely a handful of them are actually addressed.
Team dna is running a campaign, Auto Loot, starting today to bring to you the problems that confront passengers, from the minutest of issues to the major ones faced commonly by all.
On Day One of Mission Auto, the Team dna team focussed on the issue raised by most commuters: Excess charge for both long and short distances.
Here’s what we saw:
Most of the autorickshaw drivers ask for extra money and refuse to ply by the meter. When a team from dna went around the city posing as passengers and asked autorickshaw drivers to ply for short distances, the driver demanded nearly double the actual fare and refused to ply by the meter. For a distance of 500 meters, autorickshaw drivers asked for Rs50 while for a longer distance of 10 km, the autorickshaw driver asked for Rs200, eg between Vimannagar and Pune railway station.
Worst-affected areas
Based on the complaints received by Pune RTO, Team dna estimated which areas might see maximum cases of overcharging and cross-checked the areas. Here’s what we found: among the most ‘fleeced’ areas are Baner, Pashan, Aundh, Vimannagar, Kalyaninagar, Koregaon Park and Hadapsar. The dna team visited each of these areas and saw that the drivers asked for excess money for short distance as well as long distance and in most places, they do not want to ply by the meter.
Brazen fleecing
There were some autorickshaw drivers who claimed that they charge money as per the distance and they do not want to go by meter.
Autorickshaw driver Ganesh Dhumal (54) said, “I follow my own fare chart and don’t ply by the meter as it’s not profitable. If I have to ply from Vimannagar to Pune railway station I charge Rs120. However as per the meter the fare is not more than Rs80.”
Another autorickshaw driver Sayed Rafique (38) said, “I do not take passengers who want to go by the meter. I tell them the total amount up front. If someone wants to go from Koregaon Park to Camp I charge Rs150 depending on the traffic situation. There is no point in plying by the meter.”
What traffic police say
The Pune city traffic police had sent over 350 licences for suspension to Pune RTO. Senior police inspector (planning) Rangarao Kamire from the traffic department said, “Citizens are scared to report complaints with the traffic department as they have misconception that they will have to come to the traffic department and the court as well.”
He added, “People can log in and post their name, place, time and registration number of the rickshaw. Those who cannot log in online can write to DCP (traffic). We need more participation from citizens, only then can the issue be resolved.”
Write in
To send in your experiences with autorickshaws, write to puneinbox@dnaindia.net
