On August 12, when you walk down the road in Mumbai to hail an auto/cab despite knowing some won't, this is how you will be justifying yourself - it's a lifestyle choice. These guys refuse, but there hasn't ever been a time I couldn't get home. The meters are tampered, but I don't mind a buck or two extra. Besides, why punish all for a few buttpinchers, afterall, they are hardworking men.
Here is why you should queue for the bus.
Most of such transport runs on hire. Drivers take vehicles on eight/ten-hour shifts, pay Rs2-300 to the owner. They have costs to meet, including fuel. Short-distance travel is more laborious, and profitable only if its from a hub, ie a station or a mall. The irony, however, is that most people think autos/cabbies (I will use the two interchangeably) when taking a bus or train makes little sense. But that for cabs means uncertainty over not finding another commute, or wasting a little more time/fuel. Hence refusals. How can the situation be addressed? And how will this diss help?
In much of India, including municipalities bordering BMC (Mira-Bhayander, Dombivli-Kalyan etc), autos run without meter, and charge, on average, 30% more than the prescribed fare. Their argument is that there are not enough commuters, and hence the empty return fare ought to be included, even during the day. While in some cases the logic does hold, in many others, it is more a connivance between the enforcers and the fleecers, at the cost of the commuter.
Mumbai is certainly not one of those places. Just as you have always found the next auto, so do they find the next passenger (unless you are taking him to Essel World at 2am). What it amounts to is them working a bit harder for the next ride. It's the same as enforcing road discipline with signals at junctions - they make you wait, but also make your travel smoother. Imagine, for instance, there were no refusals - the domino effect would be that more cabs will be available at places where people go to most, and leave.
Besides, meters cannot be tampered with for minimum fare and short distances or they would be discovered. This brings up the major problem of complicity between the cops and drivers. Since their unions pay hafta regularly, if you drag a autowallah to a police station to report a faulty meter, the natural balance will tilt in his favour. You will be told to report the issue to the traffic police (which, they well know, being understaffed that this force is, means nothing) and pay the full fare. There is no meter in the city, barring a few of some staunchly honest drivers, most of whom have owned a vehicle all their lives, which is not tampered. Rs 1-2 is 'normal'. This works out to about 10-15% extra fare for longer distances. How are the cabbies in the rest of the country more corrupt, when here it is institutionalised?
Why boast when you go to another city how in Mumbai public-private travel is hassle-free when you aren't paying much less?
Now with the introduction of electronic meters, tampering is a breeze. All the driver has to do is press a button installed next to the wheel, and arrange beforehand how much the fare will go up each time. I've had instances when cabs have charged me Rs60 extra on a regular route. Was he not getting a commuter to another place?
There is a lot of bad hygiene floating about in this sector, and if the government isn't helping, taking a bus to work on August 12 cannot be such a debilitating way to make yourself felt.
On hurting the poor workers, didn't they think about us when they struck work twice last month?
