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How will I reach home after reaching Bangalore?
Vasanth - 21 February, 2011 | Bangalore | Autorickshaw | Complaint | Last Mile | Transportation | public transport
Yesterday, I travelled from Mysore to Bangalore on a KSRTC bus and got down at Nayandahalli at around 9:30 PM along with my wife and a 3 year boy. I asked auto wallah standing at the bus stop if he can come to Kattriguppe, he stays quite for sometime and says '100 rupees kottubidi saar', asked another auto, he says 'aa kade inda kaali barabeku saar, 80 rupees kottubidi' (while returning I have to come empty, give 80 rupees). Katriguppe is less than 4 kms and metred auto fare costs less than 30 rupees. 100 rupees is more than triple metre.
This was not only my story, but lots of other passengers as well. Scene of looking for empty auto coming on the road and waiving their hands thinking the 'ego' of Autowallahs in the stand was quite common. Some could get 'better deals' and some were hoping for buses to come.
One of regular traveller young guy said lots of empty buses comes till 11:30 PM, why do you want to pay so much. Immediately a company shuttle came and started shouting 'Kattriguppe, Katriguppe'. Auto wallahs face turned red when their customers took the bus. We got onto bus, which was empty and had comfortable seats and reached Katrriguppe by paying 10 rupees costing only 5 per person. Little walk from Bus Stop to home, but it was OK.
Lakhs of people travel to and from Bengaluru to many other cities using Trains and Buses. If someone comes to pick to you from Railway Station or Bus Stand, although you reach Bengaluru comfortably in a Volvo or a Shatabdi/Rajadhani, the struggle to reach home is a major problem. If you are alone, and not with much luggage, and not so tired,you can walk to Kempegowda Bus Stand and take up BMTC. But when you are tired, and have lots of luggage and with family, you quickly want to take an auto and reach home. If somebody from home comes to pick you in a car or bike, you feel you are in heaven. This is why people travel in cars to different cities, causing congestion on highways and toll plazas as well as accidents loosing their near and dear ones.
This is cashed in by Autowallahs of Bangalore. They ask price directly instead of putting the metre which would be 2-3 times the metre fare. Only few Railway Stations and Majestic Bus Stand has got pre-paid auto counter. It is not even present in hi-tech satellite bus stands such as Byatarayanapura and Shantinagar. Many passengers get down in other places such as Nayandahalli, Satellite Bus Stands such Shantinagar and Byatrayanapura etc. Here, passengers struggle hard to catch hold of auto.Question is why Bangalore Traffic Police is not starting Pre-Paid auto counters in these prominent passenger alighting places.
Coming to pre-paid auto counter, there is a day light robbery going on in Majestic and Railway Station. All these pre-paid counters are operated by Auto Associations and not Traffic Police. The fares here are more than metre fares. Many passengers will pay by thinking they are paying the right amount. For example, a recent trip to Railway Station from my home Kattriguppe on a digital metred auto costed me 65 rupees, on my way back, in the pre-paid auto counter, fare was allocated as 90 rupees. When I questioned the that, they said it is calculated to the end of the locality. Actually, my home is at the end of the locality, from that spot itself, fare was 65 rupees to Railway Station. Also, these auto counters will be having long queue due to absence of autos. Lots of autos do not enter the pre-paid queue and want to do business outside. They will catch hold of passengers coming outside station and ask 'Yellige Saar?'.
Mysore had more worse problem than Bangalore. Even now the problem persists, but, the traffic police have started pre-paid counters at Bus Stand and Railway Station. Fares are all fully strictly controlled by Traffic Police and any extra asked, we can complain. Prompt action will be taken which I experienced personally when the auto asking for more fare was seized by traffic police. Any auto passing in front of Bus Stand / Railway station is caught hold by Police and made to take the pre-paid auto counter passengers.Why not in Bangalore?
What Bangaloreans need is better Auto and Taxi facilities as soon as they get down at Bus Stand / Railway Station, not just swanky bus stands which are constructed at hundreds of crores utilizing JNNURM funds. We need multiple counters in dense bus stands and railway stations to reduce the queue. Passengers should be able to reach Bangalore at any time without thinking 'How will I get Home?' Hope our Traffic Police and Government make this workable one day.
COMMENTS
Just my long held opinion that autorickshaws are not a solution of the future at all, they may have been in the past. They are law onto themselves, definitely not poor mans transport and worst, is the cause of all kinds of pollution & chaos on the streets. They give you a false sense of connectivity completion because of our inability to engineer other modes properly. We need to grow out of this mode & get rid of it soon lock, stock & barrell.
Excellent issue raised
naveen_blr - 22 February, 2011 - 10:23
The first impression a person would get about a city would be - Crooks,robbers , i personally hate some cities because of the instances i have faced there due to auto rikshaw menace.
Who needs to keep this in check? Why cant there be an auto stand and no one jumps out of it? No Autos can stop anywhere to pick up passengers. many autos do not have head lights nor do they use the tail lamps nor indicators & everyone knows they are least bothered about lane or other commuters There were some NGOs working to fix auto menace but do not know where they died down (keerthi.org) i have raised numurous complains to the Traffic police but there is no way to track it. The autos still seem to charge more than double meter at normal times esp in the outskirts
Exploitation starts from here...
poowonder - 23 February, 2011 - 15:24
So true! More worrysome is not reaching Bangalore from other sources but as Mr. Vasanth has raised, is to reach home after reaching Bangalore! I live near Harischandra Ghat and my job involves intensive travel. It has been my experience that whenever I get down at Navarang early morning before 6.00 am and try to take an auto to H. Ghat which is not even 1.5 Kms from Navarang Auto Stand, I have not seen even a SINGLE auto driver who is willing to take me as per the meter fare. They demand the fare whichever comes to their mind at that instant without any logic which will be normally more than twice or thrice the actual fare. I have walked down till Navarang theatre to catch hold of the autos who demand comparitively lesser though nobody agrees to charge as per the meter fare. The situation at Malleshwaram railway station is also alarming as no driver will like to come to H.Ghat as it is very near! I wonder if it is so difficult for Bangaloreans itself, what about the passengers who are non-Bangaloreans? Exploiting them starts as soon as they get down from the bus/train. I had also many experiences where I had to be a victim of the apathy of auto drivers and sometimes thier egoistic(!) looks and negligence when I had said that I want to go to a certain place. They dont even have the courtesy to inform that they are not willing to come. Where does these fit in? Commercialisation, corruption or exploitation? No wonder people start disliking Bangalore...
Poornima.That's why People are still away from public transport
dvsquare - 23 February, 2011 - 05:39
That is also one of the reason why people don't use public transport or still shy away from it no matter how much we do bus-day or whatever.
Using buses is not the only way to leave private vehicles and use public transport, but for end-to-end connectivity, these autos can be helpful but they either don't listen to you or just demand for tripple the fare in broad day-light.
They are not at all concerned about the customer and customer service and they are just doing strikes many times for increasing the fare, and no matter how many times the fares got increased, they never stopped demanding for double or tripple or 20 Rs extra etc from the customers all the time.
I don't know, and really feel very hopeless that this government can do anything much from these autos.
And that's where people come up with the ideas like Meter-Down etc. And that is really really very very important as it might help reduce their demand for atleast a day.
I do this way whenever I need auto, I go to auto-wallah, then ask for the destination, if he is ready to go by meter, if he says anything iike Rs x extra or double or without meter etc, I just walk away to other auto or wait for another auto, without replying to him at all. I just ask him, "meter?", if he says anything else or try to ask me as less as just Rs. 10 extra, I just walk away, and don't turn back at all. If no other auto available, then I wait for few more minutes.I keep doing it till I get an auto which will go by meter or my time-limit over. Time-limit depends on how urgency you are in, if you have some urgency and then take the first auto, but if you can give a few minutes of yours, turning down the auto-wallah's demand, will make them think once about their acts. Right now, only I do it, but as soon as more and more peple start doing it, it will be seen significantly and they may feel as what they are doing in these customer-driven market.
Deepak
My Experience is same
kumarvjn - 24 February, 2011 - 09:40
This is on last Saturday. Time around 8:45 pm
I was returning from Wilson Garden with my son. While on way to Wilson Garden Bus Stand, I stopped an auto and asked whether he will come for Majestic. First answer was Rs. 80.00
As I was having two bags, I was not in a position to travel in bus by standing and balancing. At that moment, I saw one Volvo Bus was coming from 10th cross. I have never expected a Volvo around that time. I signalled for a stop and bus stopped right in front of me. My self and my son got in and paid Rs. 15 each and reached Majestic and from there caught another bus and reached our destionation.
It is common scene that Autowallahs demanding exhorbitant fare even during day time or early mornings. From Yeshwanthpur Rly. Station to RPC layout they demanded Rs. 200 near the station about 2-3 months back. Later myself and my family walked for some distance and came out of station boundary and caught an auto coming from Peenya side and paid as per meter.
My observation is that Bangalore needs at least twice the number of autos than the present ones. Because nearly 10-15% of autos are just parked in stands and they are not ready to come to any place either it is majestic or it is market or jayanagar or m.g. road or any such places.
Other set of autos are not ready to move outwards i.e., Hosakrehalli to Kengeri or Kengeri to Sumanahalli or Sumanahlli to Sunkadakatte or Kanakapura Road metro to Konanakunte and so on.
Other set of autos don't want to travel within in 2 km.
There is one more set of autos who don't want to travel beyond 8-10 kns such as Ashoka Pillar to Rajajinagar or RT Nagar to Rajaji Nagar or Ulsoor to RPC Layout and so on.
All these things justify for increasing in number of autos just like mobile phone recharging outlets. In many roads it is very common sign that every alternate shop is either a mobile handset seller or provides recharging facility and hence one need not have to run from pillar to pillar.
Seems a never ending problem
Arun - 27 February, 2011 - 07:09
Few observations -
- Zoning of auto operations will help to a large extent as it has in Bombay - here we will know the maximum we would pay
- Problem for autodrivers at prepaid is they getting a passenger travelling to Chamarajapete or Rajajinagar from Rly Stn which would fetch him less than Rs.30 after waiting for hours in the que. I can't disagree with their grouse on this point. One solution is to fix the minimum fare for pre-paid autos to atleast Rs.50
- More number of autos means more bad experiences. I dont think this would solve the problems.
- The fare hike is too burdensome for passengers, which even many auto drivers agree and do not like as they feel paying Rs.17 is very high. This has reduced the number of passengers who travel short distances in autos thus forcing them to charge more where ever possible.
- While reaching satellite bus stn is not a problem reaching home from this 'hi-tech' bus stn is a nigth mare. BMTC connectivity is good towards Vijayanagar and equally bad towards Jaynagar/Basvanagdui. Most of the autos do not want to get out of the parking lot unless paid in multiples of Rs.50. And there is no one to monitor them.
- Most autos are owned by Corporators, Policemen and politicians. So they are never booked.
- JNNURM funds have not been put to better use. More money has been spent on glass and granite than on solving problems.
- A bus bay at Majestic Rly stn is needed which is within walking distance. Buses should ply to key hubs (viz., Jayanagar, Vijayanagar, Shivajinagar, etc directly from Rly Stn which would solve most of the problems if not all.
It is indeed a thought
R V Raja Rao - 27 February, 2011 - 09:04
It is indeed a thought provoking subject for discussion. Even the prepaid autos can trick you after reaching your door steps. They invariable demand extra amount by saying that he has traveled beyond the destination for which the fare was calculated etc. Why no one is planning in line with transport system prevailing in neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh. Very few people opt for autos in Chennai and other cites in Tamil Nadu, because bus stops are located at the entrance of the Railway Stations and bus stands. Instead of demanding for prepaid auto counters and auto stands we should demand for BMTC counters and bus stands/stops.
Shortage of Autos
Vasanth - 28 February, 2011 - 03:23
Arun, as you said more number of autos means more problems. To some extent true. But, these pre-paid counters, especially in the front gate of Bangalore Railway Station faces shortage of autos. Once I travelled in Shatabdi from Mysore to Bangalore leaving Mysore at 2:15 and reaching Bangalore at 4:05. It was amazing that we covered in 1 hr 50 minutes. Then we stood in auto queue at 4:15. Almost I am 5th person in the queue. There were no autos at all. I could get auto only at 4:45 at the front gate and reached home at 5:15 nullifying the Shatabdi Experience.My home is close to Nayandahalli and could have come by normal bus almost at the same time !!
SHORTAGE OF AUTOS
kumarvjn - 28 February, 2011 - 06:00
Vasanth,
Your observation is correct about shortage of autos in pre=paid counters. As I have mentioned in my previous posting, there is in general shortage of autos in Bangalore. People who are put up in far-flung areas and those who want to travel to the extensions which are lying on the peripheral boundary of Bangalore experience this problem.
There is also need for introducing of city services from extension to the places lying on the periphery of Bangalore city.
For example, Kengeri to Bidadi (now one has to depend upon the buses coming from Market), Kengeri to Magadi, Kengeri to Nelamangala and so on in all directions.
Techie beaten up for noting auto numbers
imran_huq17 - 1 March, 2011 - 20:42
This was a shocking incident reported on Saturday, February 26, 2011 in Bangalore mirror.Details here
Increase of Auto's is definetly not a solution to the issue.
Regards,
Imran.
Pre-paid auto
ananth.bangalore - 4 March, 2011 - 14:19
Auto traffic has been to a large extent, arguably the most unregulated channel of public transport. Does the authorities' intervention in planning and implementing public transport systems stop with collecting taxes?
For buses, we have bus-stops (most of the times and sometimes the indication) and for metro, we will have stations. I wish to believe that most auto-stands are allocated to the area, thought i tend to believe that most of them are incidental or spontaneous. Ok, so what is the logic of not extending the facility of pre-paid auto system ( even with its issues) to other parts of the city rather than just stop with the railway station
Affordable Radio Taxis for Long Run, Pre-paid counter short soln
Vasanth - 6 March, 2011 - 03:27
Well established Taxi companies like Meru cabs / Easy cabs taxis are quiet expensive at 15 rupees per km. We do not need luxury sedans, we want comfortable and reliable hatchback based a/c and non a/c taxis at say 10 rupees per km and with good call centre support as an alternative to autos. Hope some enterpreneur like Meru/Easy/Spot comes up with this kind of a service.
TTMCs are started all across the town without offering much to the customer other than good shelter. Major problem a customer faces without his vehicle is the last mile connectivity. Pre-paid auto counters in TTMC could be one of the measures other than Free Bicycle Parking to provide last mile connectivity. Don't know why BMTC not considering these options.
'Affordable' Taxis?
pathykv - 6 March, 2011 - 07:14
Taxis at Rs 10/km will not be affordable for most of the Train passengers.
Just like 'Feeder buses' are being thought of for Metro stations, these should be provided on priority for the Railway Stations.
K.V.Pathy
@ K V PathyYes Rs. 10/- per
R V Raja Rao - 6 March, 2011 - 10:40
@ K V Pathy
Yes Rs. 10/- per KM is not affordable for commuters. Feeder buses are better than prepaid Taxi or Auto. To start with Feeder buses may be tried from City & Cantonment Railway Stations to important routes.
R.V.Raja Rao
Does BLR Need more Autos?
Ravi_D - 7 March, 2011 - 07:24
Transport dept. is trying to find out.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/bengaluru/does-bengaluru-need-more-autos-265
When can we get our priorities right? When we can't have existing autos comply with existing laws (traffic, noise, pollution), why worry how many more we can get on the street?
We don't need them more, we want them to serve us when needed
Vasanth - 7 March, 2011 - 07:43
We don't need them more, we want them to serve us when needed. We want auto service to be more organized and reliable as a mode of PT.
Problem now is :
1. They don't come to place where we want to go.
2. They ask more money
3. Tampered Metres.
Pre-paid counters are one mode of making them little organized by not allowing them to say 'I won't come' and regulating the fares. We need more pre-paid auto counters something like 'Nirmala Toilets'!!.
Corporators and local residential associations can come up with pre-paid counters in their respective constituencies. Organizations like Railways, KSRTCs and BMTCs need to arrange them in railway stations and TTMCs.
Future of autos
idontspam - 7 March, 2011 - 09:51
My pessisimistic outlook for the future of autos can be changed if we can find a way to keep them to last mile ONLY. They should remain within 30kmph zones (beyond this speed they are unsafe) and if we can figure out a fool proof way to do this then they may have a future there. They could be replaced by cycle rickshaws for last mile instead of the polluting 3 wheeled contraption. THese last mile vehicles should remain in the last mile zones & kept out of 40kmph sub arterial & 60kmph arterial & corridor roads...
I can think of one way to do this... we will need to classify the roads along with speed limits, superimpose the BMTC routes with bus stops, earmark zones where last miles can be worked out without crossing zones or making them travel on 40/60/80 kmph arterial roads, allocate number of autos per zone, give them zone permits where they run that can be displayed on their windshield. Its a lot of work but may be worth it in the end. The zoning last mile permit system can be issued to any type of vehicle which wants to do last mile.
every1 experiences the same
shashi kumar y - 15 March, 2011 - 06:18
Every passenger who travels in & out of the city b/w 9pm - 05:00am experinces the same problem as mentioned in this blog.
This forces the travellers to opt for personal transport or get ready to face the auto drivers demand.
Not only that, we need to face the night crime if we opt for personal or auto.
I don't understand why BMTC is so hessitant to operate buses b/w the above mentioned time. Yes, we have buses but no one knows the timings of it and the frequecy is also too low?
As their is no traffic during night so we can expect the buses to be on time. Why don't the praja admin request the BMTC to publish the list of night services with timings in website.
40,000 more autos @ your service
Ravi_D - 28 March, 2011 - 04:46
Transport department sure seems to have done their reserach quick. They were looking into the need for more autos when we last checked on 7/Mar. 23/March a notification comes out permitting addition of 40,000 more. Source: 26/Mar Hindu.
Can I get a copy of that study report pls? Dept website doesn't have it, and I see no link to the notification either.
Corporatising autos may solve the problem
vijaypadiyar - 29 March, 2011 - 18:18
I think it is best to corporatise autorickshaws as well, in line with taxi services like Meru and Easy Cabs.
Read my suggestion on corporatising autorickshaws here: http://praja.in/en/blog/vpadiyar/2011/01/02/time-corporatise-autorickshaws
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