There are few things that would unite Chennaites as much as the love for the hatred of its Autos and the men who drive it!

Chennai Auto Rickshaw

You can ask almost anyone and they would go on and on! about the conspiracy that these men wield! presumably! Before we all blame the manifestation lets understand why it is so: Even thought getting an Auto permit costs only around INR 300-500 the street price for the same is around 1.75 lakhs. So much so because fresh permits have been almost hard to come by since 2002! And most of the permits are in the hands of pawn brokers! So even before your auto driver starts driving his auto rickshaw for you, he already has an overhead of 1.75 lakhs! plus interest and the rest of the financial nitty grit-ties that spiral him down further. To add to their woes is the introduction of Share autos, no doubt a pleasant relief for the consumers, but an unplanned move by the relevant authorities.
So the next time you take an auto, talk to him before you start hating him right away! and for all you know, you may end up wanting to pay him more.

Note: As on 2005 there were around 37000 auto’s running in Chennai. That’s around 1 auto for every 1650 people. A very low ratio. This prevents competition and also keeps the demand for the less number of autos to remain high and creates a huge lapse in the demand supply ratio.

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i wanted to write this post for a long time, but after a discussion at work, decided to pen it.

Filed under: thoughts