prasad1
Active member
The meter has shaken things up. Stand auto drivers have realised allegiance of regular customers is no longer a given and that they have to make more trips to earn what they used to.
Every morning, Nidhi Rajan takes an autorickshaw from the Srirampettai stand in Nandanam to reach her office in Guindy. But the past few days, she has changed her routine. Nidhi hurries past the stand and flags the first running autorickshaw she sees.
“The stand autorickshaws don’t go by the meter. They charge at least Rs. 70 more than the correct fare,” she says. The reluctance among commuters to travel by autorickshaws without functioning meters has hit drivers who are part of stands. K. Thomas, a driver at an autorickshaw stand in Mylapore, says he can no longer afford to simply wait at the stand for passengers to come to him. “Even our regulars now prefer to flag running autorickshaws as they have meters,” he says.
Every morning, Nidhi Rajan takes an autorickshaw from the Srirampettai stand in Nandanam to reach her office in Guindy. But the past few days, she has changed her routine. Nidhi hurries past the stand and flags the first running autorickshaw she sees.
“The stand autorickshaws don’t go by the meter. They charge at least Rs. 70 more than the correct fare,” she says. The reluctance among commuters to travel by autorickshaws without functioning meters has hit drivers who are part of stands. K. Thomas, a driver at an autorickshaw stand in Mylapore, says he can no longer afford to simply wait at the stand for passengers to come to him. “Even our regulars now prefer to flag running autorickshaws as they have meters,” he says.
