Yesterday I was on the way to my home. It was just 3.5 KMS away. Opened Uber to book a cab. But something made me to look at autos in queue, in hot sun, without any passengers. I felt pity for them thinking about their families. I decided to take an auto.

I asked for the fare to my home for which auto driver asked Rs 70/-. I checked uber ride estimate, which was around 55/-.

I bargained for Rs. 60 which was rejected stating huge traffic at cricket stadium due to IND vs BAN test match. I checked for traffic in Google maps, which was normal.

I was about to book a cab when another auto driver called me and asked me to get into his auto. After I reached home, the driver demanded 80/-.

I asked, ‘the first driver offered me Rs. 70 and I requested for Rs. 60. You should have come for Rs. 60, what's your logic for charging me Rs. 80??’

He replied, 'I don't know all these, the other driver said it was Rs. 80’.

Realised that I was cheated in my home city, paid Rs. 80 and said, ‘Thank you for cheating on me. Because of you, I will never board an auto in my life again’.

I thought of favouring him, but I ended up being cheated. I was on my official duty and all my expenses will be reimbursed. Rs 20/- didn't matter. But I couldn't digest the cheating.

One more incident:

I was in Chennai to meet my wife, who was on her training at IOB staff college. It was 5 years back and I am not using smart phone. She said the college is at walkable distance to Koyembedu bus stop.

I was new to the city and didn't want to take the risk and hence asked for an auto. He asked for Rs 200/-. Chennai autos will loot you if you can't speak Tamil. Though most of them understand Telugu, but they pretend that they don't understand.

I was on my way walking, one auto offered me 100/- and I boarded.

I could make out that we already crossed 2 kms. He kept riding and dropped me at an IOB branch. I said it was not my destination. He pretended asking my address to the people and finally dropped me at my destination and charged me Rs 250/- and argued with me that I am unable to tell my address exactly. I wanted to shout and cry on the middle of the road. I couldn't even argue with him because of language. I was running out of time and paid him money.

Because of the attitude of few auto drivers, they are losing their credibility and killing themselves.

It is not just fair, it is amazing. If the autorickshaw drivers truly provided customer service they would not be at a loss. They monopolized the routes and often treated the customers like shit. And their attitude really hampered movement in India.

I have lived in most major cities in India and they all had poor transportation. In Mumbai/Pune, you cannot even easily get an autorickshaw and the guys behave as though they are the admissions committee at Harvard. In Chennai, you can easily get an auto, but they will rip you off. In Bangalore, you will both be harder to find and quick to rip. In Delhi, you hope to stay safe.

Ridesharing services help address the severe mobility problem we face in India. Without them we would not be able to do our work as efficiently [instead spending more time begging those arrogant guys and reaching offices late] and that means loss of GDP to the nation.

Ola/Uber truly helps cut regional/linguistic barriers in the country. Imagine a non-Tamilian coming to Chennai. The auto drivers would eat them alive. Their experience with bad autodrivers often made outsiders hate the city. Now, you just open your familiar pan-India app get a taxi and down to your destination with zero drama and haggling. Rideshare services truly help integrate India.

It also helps tourism as foreign tourists can also navigate our cities much more easily with very familiar tools.

Ridesharing services makes our resources very efficient. How often do you see Ola/Uber drivers sit idle with their cars? How often do you see auto drivers chatting idly with empty autorickshaws?

Ridesharing services provide a predictable income and can truly enable a worker to enter the middle class [many cab drivers make Rs. 25000 and more per month]. Most autorickshaw drivers on the other hand cannot enter the middle class with their volumes and incomes.

Ola/Uber is also quite safe, especially for women. If a woman gets harassed in Ola/Uber it becomes a national news as it is quite rare. On the other hand, harassment on an autorickshaw it is a usual thing and moved to inner pages. If women can travel outside much more and stay safer India’s productivity and welfare go up.

Ridesharing services are amazing for the country - it enables better movement, better tourism, better efficiency, better safety and better economic mobility. As for the autorickshaw drivers, the ones who are truly smart and not hiding behind the union can get great opportunities even now.

Two days ago, I got down at Chennai Mambalam railway station at 4;20 AM. I had to travel 3 kms from the station to the place where I was going to stay. I thought of hiring an auto from the auto stand in the station itself. When I asked them how much they would charge, one guy said “100 Rs”, I said to him “ The cab fare may be around 60, I thought I could help you guys by travelling in your auto”. He replied “ It may be profitable for them, but not for us if we ride at that rate. Another guy said “You first book the cab, we will see if they come”,

Immediately I booked a cab through App and I got xylo for Rs. 62.

Now tell me, if OLA/UBER affected Auto-Rickshaws or those auto walas spoil themselves?

My Father and I returned to New Delhi after vacationing in Kerala. We arrived at Nizamuddin Railway Station and at the Exit, there were Auto walas or Tuk-Tuk waiting for people.

(Pic Credits: Google)

My father was in front of me and I at the back was carrying all the luggage. Finally when we were at the exit the auto walas saw us and 7-8 people started asking where we wanted to go. My father has that Malayalam-Hindi accent so probably they thought we were new to New Delhi. When my father said the destination everyone quoted the price of between Rs. 380-400. My father tried to negotiate but they said ‘sir apke liye 400 bole hai varna to 500 se kam koi nhi lega yaha’( For you sir we are asking a price of Rs. 400 otherwise nobody will go for less than Rs. 500). While all of them were Jumping on my father I was at the back watching all this. I put down my luggage and took out the phone from my pocket and opened the UBER app.

I put down the destination on the app and I used a coupon that was available. I don’t remember how much %off Coupon that was but when I finally saw the UBER fare it shocked me. It was RS. 180. The autowalas were looting us for fricking Rs. 200. I showed the UBER price to my father and he said to autowalas Rs. 150 me chaloge to manunga(‘I’ll agree if you can come down to Rs. 150).

The Autowalas were confused as to what the hell is my father trying to say. One of them said: sir apke liye hum 500 se 400 pe aye ab aap 150 bol rahe hai(we came down from 500 to 400 and now you’re asking for 150)?

My father then showed them the UBER price and they were dumb struck. Some of them came down to 250 but my father was adamant on Rs. 150.

Finally when my father refused them they all left us.

The autowalas are facing losses because of their unfair practice of looting people.

I am here for your help buddy I always do simple thing

Like one I asked a auto driver will he drop me somewhere location he said 100rs I said ok

Then in between I had to buy some thing from a shop I told to wait I will return in 5 min but actually I took 15mins so he said that I took too much time so I said ok I will give to 10rs extra for waiting then after reaching at my stop he said 120rs, I asked why 100+10 is 110 he said you took too much time I will take 20rs extra I simply told him to fuck off I am not gonna pay you a single rupee he got angry and started shouting and using abusing words, I said nothing and called at 100 and told everything as soon he realised that I have called police he got silent and said ok give 110 rs only I said stup up I was giving you 110 before but you tried to rob me I will give only 100 rs now and he said ok and then he left

• Never try to pick fight, work smart
• Incase if he is still shouting at you, hit him hard in face not joking do it you need to teach such people a lesson
• Never look like a hopeless child infront of them if he say something bad to you, at that time don't hold back!

Yes it should be a concern, however, the auto wallahs are to be equally blamed for that. Here's why :

1) The autos in most metropolitan cities do not agree to go by meter. Some don't even have a meter. This a major win win for most cab companies who are cashing in on the pricing.
2) Most of the times the autos don't agree to go at all. Another area of opportunity.
3) They don't follow the laid down regulations and their night charges on meter start too early(as early as seven they ask for one and half meter charges which is not fair).
4) People have to wait a lot to get an auto(half of them just ask you the location and drive off which is a very rude thing to do).

A good transport system is where people use all means of transport equally. There may be a difference in price based on the convenience but people are free to choose their mode of transport.

I no longer take autos and avoid them to the maximum extent possible and travel mostly by cabs and I do have a fair reason for that just like most people.

Autos in Bangalore and Delhi never agree to go by meter. Most of the times they don't agree to go at all. There have been times when I've waited almost an hour before an auto agreed to go by meter (my reason why should I pay more than I am supposed to).

They choose their customers based on the place they want to go. If it's close by, they will just make a face and drive away. If it's far, they quote a price and then bargaining happens.
There are good auto wallahs who go by meter but it's very rare to find such autos and not all the time you find them.

Cabs on the other hand come pick me up. I pay the price on the meter whatever that be and reach home no matter at what time. I don't have to pay double meter at nights and don't have to wait for an auto to agree to go. Anyone would prefer cabs due to these reasons.

If autos agreed to go by meter I'd take one atleast half the times. Autos and cabs have the same fare, some cabs have a cheaper rate but irrespective if I have to travel close distance I'd much rather take an auto and since they don't agree to go, I book a cab.

It's just not me facing these problems with autos, a lot of my friends did too and a lot of them switched to cabs completely.

Sure cabs are taking away the earnings of auto wallahs and they have mouths to feed but so do the people who travel in the autos and it's really not fair to overcharge them all the time.

Even autos who sign up for OLA auto don't confirm the ride during evening hours so most people take a cab which costs the same with peak surcharges.

Autos have 25 minimum whereas cabs have 50 to 70 minimum charge and people would prefer auto but there should be stricter rules like Mumbai, where autos can't refuse to drop a customer.

They need to improvise.

When technology takes the market by storm, no union/strike/protest can slow it down. The only way to survive is to follow the trend. Auto drivers are known mostly for their inconsistent pricing, unprofessional behaviour and arguments. They can change this. Instead of complaining, they can do the following:

1. By either joining the cab aggregators and being a part of the system.
2. By making separate union to make necessary correction in pricing, timing and rules.
3. By moving to online app based systems dedicatedly.

We Indians are forgiving in nature. Few instances of comfortable, fair experience and we will definitely follow and recommend the autos. Actually there is great scope for autowallas to fill in the gap and if they improvise, even the micro cabs can not replace them. They have their own advantage.

The growing popularity of app-based cab services like Uber and Ola has already eaten into the incomes of traditional auto and taxi drivers in Mumbai, but things are set to get worse.

Taxi and auto unions typically demand fare hikes from the government at this time of the year, to help drivers’ incomes keep up with inflation. This year, however, Mumbai’s kaali-peeli (black and yellow) taxi and auto unions are not pushing for a revised fare, for fear of losing even more commuters to cheaper aggregator cabs. This has left them in an unpleasant double bind: if they agitate for a hike in their fares, they could lose more passengers to aggregator cab services; if they don’t get higher fares, their already-dwindling incomes are likely to shrink even further over the next year.

Unfortunately for taxi and auto drivers, the situation will remain bleak until the regulations governing app-based cabs are designed to create a more level playing field for both kinds of public transport services.

‘Afraid to ask for a hike’

Base fares of Mumbai’s autos and taxis were raised by one rupee last year – from Rs 17 and Rs 21 to Rs 18 and Rs 22 respectively – and union leaders believe drivers deserve another one-rupee hike this year.

“It is true that CNG prices were reduced by Rs 1.6 per kilo during the last year, but auto insurance premiums have increased by Rs 3,000 a year – and insurance is mandatory for taxi drivers,” said AL Quadros, head of the Mumbai Taximen’s Union. “Besides, the general cost of living in this city keeps increasing every year, so our drivers really need a fare hike.”

Quadros’s union has, in fact, sent a basic proposal for a taxi fare revision to the state transport commission. “But we are not going to force the government to give us that one rupee hike,” he said.

Aggregator cabs are, of course, the primary reason for this passivity. “Ola and Uber have ruined the demand for our autos and cabs, and so there is no demand from our drivers to push for a fare hike this year,” said KK Tiwari, the leader of the Swabhiman Taxi Rickshaw Union. “Business is already bad, and drivers are afraid it could get worse.”

Aggregators versus kaali-peelis

App-based cab services have grown popular in Mumbai because they offer more comfortable, air-conditioned transport at rates that are often cheaper than kaali-peeli cabs. To a large extent, companies like Uber make up for these low rates through surge pricing, when per kilometre rates shoot up supposedly in accordance with high demand and low supply of cabs.

The effects of the recent surge pricing ban in Delhi are yet to be seen, but in Mumbai, auto and taxi drivers do not enjoy the benefits of anything akin to surge pricing – they have to stick to a fixed fare and face commuter ire if they charge more than the metre, irrespective of demand-supply dynamics.

For app-based cabs, the company takes a small cut of the fare paid by the commuter per ride, while the rest goes to the driver. Despite the relatively low fares and the cut taken by the companies, Uber and Ola drivers earn as much as Rs 25,000 or even Rs 60,000 a month, leagues higher than the Rs 8-10,000 monthly average that most kaali-peeli drivers earn in Mumbai.

“One reason for this could be that app-based cab drivers have captured the market for long-distance trips, and taxi or auto drivers are plying shorter distances than they used to,” said Dhawal Ashar, a senior project associate for urban transport at WRI India Sustainable Cities, a non-profit organisation advocating for sustainable urban transport.

So far, auto and taxi drivers seem to be losing the competitive race against huge multinational companies like Uber, even as they pay more to get the official permits that allow them to drive taxis. Uber or Ola drivers get tourist driver permits under the All India Tourist Permit regulations – permits that are relatively easy to acquire but that fall within a grey area. Taxi and auto unions, for instance, claim that tourist permits shouldn’t apply to cabs that ferry local commuters within the city. This is not explicitly clarified in the AITP regulations, and the government is still unclear about it.

“All in all, taxi and auto drivers are paying more for permits, uniforms, badges and having to deal with the police,” said Zainab Kakal, a project head at WRI India Sustainable Cities. “But their voices are not being adequately heard in this debate.”

Couple years later the question would be what should cab drivers do with the advent of self driving cars?

People from different kind of cities will get affected differently, for example. In a small city which is packed to the brim with auto rickshaw and I need to travel 1–10 km and auto is infront of me and is charging less than any cab in the world, I'll prefer that over an uber at any given moment. On the contrary, in a metro city, where though a lot of autos exist but they charge exorbitantly from new people and behave like shit with everybody, then I am sorry, but they Will lose their job.

Autos CAN always be cheaper than cabs due to more fuel efficiency and ability to be shared by few people. Also, CABS are a luxury for a most of the people and a simple point in FAVOUR OF THE AUTO RICKSHAW DRIVER IS THE BASE fee Charged by the cab companies, if the distance is meagre, people WILL prefer autos.

To actually answer the question I think they'll have to make the service they offer more appealing.

• Improve their behaviour towards everybody and charge appropriately.
• Adopt to efficient fuels like CNG to reduce running costs even further.
• Form a union so that they are properly distributed through out the city.

Basically, all they can do is find why cabs are becoming popular and improve on their mistake But then Cab drivers will lose job, so it is sort of a cycle someone will suffer. Further, at some places more than required no. Of auto rickshaw drivers exist so they all end up reducing each other's profit.

Thank you

I guess some aren’t honest like people in any job or profession. When I was a cabbie I prided myself on punctuality and honesty. In 5 years of cabbing I only ever missed one booking because I’d forgotten to write it down on the daily hire sheet, and I handed everything I found in my car at the end of a shift to my boss.

That included £60 pounds that someone dropped on the floor one day. My boss told me that the £60 was dropped as a “test” by a local businessman and womaniser who wanted to test my honesty. Was I the sort of guy who would take a pretty lady to his place without talking about it to all and sundry? Yes I was that kind of guy.

No not all.

Even I had same question, so once when I travelled in a auto, I asked auto driver about it.

No sir, not much, I still make Rs.1000 / day.

How is it, hasn't Ola n Uber impacted you, as many people have switched to them.

Earlier we use to get long distance rides, which we don't get, we only get several short distance trips.

Only tech savvy people use Ola n Uber, there are several people who aren't tech savvy and do not have smart phone, they are our customers.

So auto drivers still make money, they are still their old way, they refuse to come to your destination.

The always charge over and above the meter.

The complain about bad roads.

Justified is a relative term.

Auto drivers perspective is that Ola/Uber are eating up their business by creating tremendous supply in the market, link it with technology and offer extremely competitive pricing, even cheaper than government auto rates.

Ola/Uber are both willing to on board autos on to their platform. Their aim is to build mobility for every one in India. Eventually whole auto market will be there in both of the apps. It is just that this is a huge change for auto drivers and acceptance will take a little time.

Although auto market disruption has begun, I’d not be surprised if organizing it takes a couple of years because of the sheer volume and low level of literacy.

Taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber do not make profit directly by giving free rides or charging less money. The motto is to acquire the customer by giving experience. This is a part of their long term strategy to acquire most of the customers from the market.

The Indian taxi market alone is pegged anywhere between $6-$9 billion dollars by different estimates, and is forecasted to grow at 17-20% annually. More importantly, the organized taxi market is still minuscule as compared to rest of the taxi market in India; it constitutes only 4-5% of the market in terms of sheer number of vehicles. The rest is by operators who own fleets of 2-50 cars and typically have a presence in 1 or 2 cities.

They already have secured heavy funding and hence liquidity to promote themselves and play the game. Once they have a loyal customer base, they then can start monetizing more out of their service.

This is why competing organizations are good for the customer.

On the whole, I as an Indian, find the Auto services in general cheap, comfortable and reliable enough for a personalized public transport vehicle. I find that most fellow Indians who may be earning enormous salaries (probably they really feel they really are special and entitled to this and work their derriere off) scrounge and haggle like their life depended on it when it comes to even a mere rounding off tip to the Auto driver! After all, I feel, it does not take too much of effort or empathy to the well educated people in this fora certainly, to understand and realize that this is amongst the very tough, demanding and risky jobs available and the urge to survive somehow is what makes one an Auto driver in the first place. It is amongst the last choices of occupation. No certainty of earning every day, no social security, no medical benefits, no company accommodation, leave benefits or leave salary. Not to mention the being at the receiving end and mercy of all sorts of demands by Policemen and Government authorities out to extort, make a fast buck or just throw their weight about. It is a wonder that they, in these circumstances, have retained their humanity at all and not all become ruthless extortionists and criminals. On the contrary I actually find in many instances of road accidents or other emergencies it is the ubiquitous and humble Auto driver who are human enough and the first to help out while others (probably including me) just whiz past in our motor bikes / cars with unconcern and without feeling. I feel we can be slightly more fair and balanced, at least in our understanding and analysis and judgements here, if not while paying the Auto driver.

Great question. Having used autos extensively to travel and being a student of Business, I always fail to understand why the Auto guys act the way they do. At times I even thought of running a basic Business 101 or a customer service 101 class with them (for their own good and in turn of the customer's as well). Some of the things that I would like to see change are:

• Carry Change: The auto folks never (and I mean NEVER) have change to my chagrin. Its a business for god's sake, if you are losing business because you don't have change on you or you upset the customer at the end of the journey because of this issue all the time, START carrying some change.
• Easy Jet Funda: The folks at Easy Jet (Low cost airline from EU) have a simple funda to make money, "Bums on the seats and seats in air". Similarly, auto guys can make money by "bums on the seats and seats moving towards destination". But more often than not, you will see them reading newspapers, talking or worse gambling and denying passengers their services. At times, its understood that they don't want to go short distance but I have seen this on many occasions.
• Use the Meter: During one of my numerous fights/chats with one auto fellow, I asked him his reasoning for not using the meter and the expected answer was the rates are low, no return trip available, petrol price, etc. Agreed that these are the issues but its the same for everyone, why then some of them deny to use the meter and some do?
• One price: OK, so if you don't wanna use the meter, don't but at least have a system to charge extra (proportionate to the kms traveled) so that the passanger can be sure that he/she is not being conned. Don't quote numbers that just popped into your head without reasoning making it inevitable to haggle.
• Be nice: I know life is tough and all that. But being nice does not hurt and in fact, if you are nice to the passenger chances are he or she will willingly tip you as against walk away cursing you for the awful experience.

Clearly, I am very frustrated with the Auto Service. More than as a passenger, I am angry as an observer who fails to understand why these guys will let their business be taken away by the rampant Cab Services but will not change (or offer change for that matter :P)

Well this is not going to happen atleast in Mumbai. Both are at their own place. Even today for short distances, people prefer rickshaws because minimum fare in ola or uber is Rs. 60 which is too much to pay for a 2–3 km range. Before ola-uber, middle-class people like me used combinations of local trains+rickshaws but after these online cab services, our preferences have changed. Whenever there is a long ride with luggage, cab has become necessity for me. Also, Mumbai does not face the problem of fares much owing to meter. Though many people complain about the unwillingness of autos, but that can be understood as they have a fixed region of operation, generally governed by unions. You just need to enquire a little bit, and you may get an appropriate rickshaw without any frustration in Mumbai. Again I would like to make it clear, that the above answer is based on my 5 years of experience of living in Mumbai.

Note: People's opinions on this topic may change based on their experiences. Also the above answer is specifically for Mumbai Suburbs & opinions may vary for other cities

Even after considering the innumerable difficulties associated with the life of an 'aam aadmi' traveling in an auto, one cannot afford to deny the important role that autos play in the transport infrastructure of several urban Indian cities and towns. Its suits the pocket of an average Indian who cannot afford a cab at every other instance. Now coming to the steps that I believe can bring a positive change.

1. In most cities today autos run on meters. I think we should try to move from this system, to a 'shared' system, where you share the ride along with other fellow travelers. The routes as well as the fares should be fixed. (Fare chart displayed inside auto). The advantages of such a system is manifold. Firstly, it avoids the issues of meter tampering, fleecing passengers (especially new entrants to a city) and pointless bargains. Secondly, as people are now sharing the 'auto', simple arithmetic tells us there will be lesser number of autos plying on the streets at a time. (Lesser traffic, lesser pollution.) Moreover, because you have other people along with you, adds to the security. Lesser opportunities of mugging, snatching. (Someone to chat with, in a boring ride too. :))
2. The driver details with route and vehicle details be displayed inside the auto (as in Bangalore and some other cities). So in case, you are unfortunately traveling alone late night, you can text your best friend or your dad with the details, who can then take steps in case something untoward happens. (Also helpful if you forget your stuff in an auto)
3. A central agency, can put up the details of all the auto routes within a city with fares, duration of travel on a website, for the ease of a commuter.

One can still talk about other steps, like installing GPS in every auto, but it's not feasible in any Indian city because of the cost involved and huge number of illegal autos plying in it. We can't change the personality of people, so can't force our auto-drivers to be nice, but if that happens it'll be good.

Every company, specially startups, when it establishes itself, has to put in a good amount of money for the office setup, human resource, marketing etc. The first thing which they concentrate on is to acquire a customer base. Different companies apply different methods to do that depending on the nature of the company.

When ecommerce came into india, the companies were giving free home delivery for almost everything. Then, when it became popular and people are depended on it big time, these companies introduced certains requierements to be met.

Companies like Ola and Uber are in the transport business. Initially Ola and Uber gave referral bonus upto 600 rs. However, if you see, the scenario has changed once they have acquired customers. In my city ola gives 50 rs and Uber gives 150 rs referral bonus.

To attract the drivers ola and uber were giving huges incentives initially. If you take a close look now and compare it with last years incentives, you will see that the incentive structures have also changed. It’s like previously uber and ola were in need of drivers. Now, drivers are in need of ola and uber.

Once they acquire customers and they have a good demand in the market, they get more and more business. These companies charge a 20% commission from the drivers for each ride. They also get money from the download of applications. There are more than a million bookings a day.

The point where revenue meets the expense done is known as the break even point. It’s after this point that a company starts making profit. Amazon made its first profit after 7 years.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Shouvik