As you all may know, auto rickshaws in Bangalore aren’t the most friendly of the lot. Getting around in Bangalore, specially if you don’t know your way around, is expensive and troublesome. There are ofcourse the good guys who claim that the bad guys have defamed the community by tampering with meters and harrasing customers for extra money. I also know of a friend who had 2 teeth broken because he refused to pay the extra 10 bucks demanded from the driver. The police are probably hand in pocket with some of their unions and hence they are unafraid of any police action. I use auto rickshaws pretty frequently and I make sure that I get into autos only if they go by the meter.
So here’s a solution – Gandhi guerilla style. It’s a quiet guerilla movement that will be driven by the consumer and will eventually end up becoming a validation system for autos. Atleast that’s what I want it to become. It’s pretty simple really, print these stickers (or take them from me) and stick the relevant ones anywhere on the auto when you finish a ride. Slowly but steadily these stickers will become more visible as more people take to this movement and the auto drivers will also aspire to have these “auto-friendlys” on their autos. The friendlys will become like what badges are for pizza delivery boys. A rating and a validation system that at a single glance will tell the customer that this auto driver is a good guy and will not cheat you. Here are the intial three stickers – the meter friendly, the people friendly and the traffic rules friendly.
And here’s what autos may look like with these friendlys on them.
A Friendly Auto
Ofcourse ideas for more friendlys are always welcome and maybe I’ll put out the template so everyone can make their own friendlys. Let me know what you think about the campaign. Whether this will help people or will drivers take advantage and print fake ones? Let’s organize an “Auto Friendly” tweetup to distribute these stickers sometime!
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So after a while, when sufficient autos are stamped, we’ll stop using any other. This will create a movement among the autos that do not have the stickers. And the unions will ask autos that DO have the stickers to remove them in order to be fair.
Net result: Plan complete fail. Time wasted. Back to square one.
Great idea! This might be a slow process before it catches attention but is really worth it..
And what stops the “bad” auto drivers to paste the “good” stickers on their autos?
there isn’t anything. but if you sit in an auto that’s not any of these, you can pull out the stickers!
great idea! i’d just like to suggest a tweak in your distribution model:
if i have to print it, i have no idea how to print a sticker. i know you get sticker paper, but thats bloody expensive.
or if i just print it, do i use a gluestick to stick it? don’t know how many autos will agree to that!
so i suggest you print them and distribute them youself.
OR
find some online printing thing that people can order!
tweetups for the distribution of the stickers!! ill get them printed. anyone donating?
This is a nice idea, but I think Kjkeo also has a point. But since this is a very people oriented idea, I guess it might become more powerful than we anticipate it to be, because everyone is affected by these morons. So it might also come to a point, where Auto-waalas start craving for attention and might improve.. Since the stickers remain with us, atmost the auto-unions can only remove the stickers but not put it on un-deserving ones, and so the rating cycle will continue. Genius of an idea Vanchi.. Brilliant..!!
How to collect them?
we plan a meetup where the stickers are distributed. it’s still not in motion yet. need to plan it soon.
Yup, that’s a great Idea. I would like to take this up with Praja Members here (Praja.in).
Also, Till now what I have been always doing and spreading is that – Ask Auto if he asks any extra amount, just come out of the auto without negotiating, without saying a word, a FULL NO-NO, thereby making them listen NO. Give them no chance to negotiate at all. Keep doing the same unless you are out of your time. In case you are in very hurry or urgency, go ahead with whatever negotiation is good as per the urgency, but if have time, this is good way to control Demand-And-Supply.
Anyways, this is a nice idea and keep me updated about the next action plans about it.
@deepak that would be great. any media coverage as @wineye says is a good way to spread the message as well. non compliance is the only way that these auto drivers will realize.
Great initiative ! If u want this to work u will hav to rope in d non comp saavy crowd Coz d tech crowd forms a minority. Getting d media involved wud help
N think of stickers that can’t b plagiarised.
Gud luck!!!
Why should auto’s follow meters? why can’t the customer and auto driver just agree on a certain price for the ride? I think it is not fair to the auto driver to force him to go for a certain amount fixed by the government or anyone else.
A much needed initiative. But just wondering how many of us on the blog / twitter community are actually using autos !
I guess, we are not addressing the right issue. The Auto Rickshaw drivers are unfriendly not because they are like that by nature. They have become frustrated due to the high cost of living of Bangalore, primarily because of the sudden invasion of IT companies and that is why they show their frustration by being unfriendly. A much better thing to do would be to start collecting funds and help AutoRickshaw Drivers to cope with the cost of living of Bangalore. For example, when I had once asked a auto driver, he had told me there are about 3 lakh auto drivers in Bangalore. Assuming that there are equal number of Software Engineers, what we as software engineers can do is contribute monthly a small amount, just enough to send the children of Auto drivers to school. Hence we take a small burden off their shoulders and they in turn make our life easy by helping us commute without any hassle. If this situation is not brought in control, I am sure there will be a disaster when Bangalore Metro starts as many of the Auto Richshaw drivers will become jobless.
Great initiative. Will try to market this idea to all.
Nice Movement.
Result What I Imagine:
This movement might get into the conscience of the auto drivers and might change themselves. [There is a chance]
Most likely to happen:
This stickers, either the auto drivers union will remove it. Or the drivers themselves will remove it.
Or
All the drivers will get to this site n get these stickers and stick it on their auto.
You will start getting these in markets too.
The only solution is strict law & regulation, if only India is a country where laws are given enough respect. I can only hope one day, it will be.
One more thing, like the author, I also make it a point that I take a rikshaw only if they go by the meter. If everyone takes a strict stand in this direction, things might change. Yeah, it “might” change!
–
Jitin S
Nice idea… It still sits in danger of being tampered with, just like the meters themselves.
There is a (purely hypothetical) way to get around this – unique AR Tags and a AR Tag reviewing app for a mobile phone. Have these in a discreet spot and with one snapshot of the AR Tag, get to know the good ones. Very cumbersome I know. But it’s the only way to keep it away from their control.
Another one is where the stickers are printed by one company only, with a special holographic id or watermark.
But mostly this is going to overwhelm the drivers themselves. It’s a risky thing to do because you might have good drivers ending up turning bad if they find no way to get these stickers. There has to be a notification to their community, something that says ‘if you be good, you earn this’ and a distribution model that keeps the supply of the reward stickers always up.
@vignesh you have a point there. but that doesn’t mean that they take out frustration on the drivers. techies are very much in a minority and are concentrated more on the outskirts of the city.
@vivek thanks, will definitely get this off the ground.
@jitin you’ve pretty much covered all possible outcomes. maybe if this catches on a little bit, if nothing else, it would wake up the authorities into putting some of the laws that are already in place into action on the ground.
@nav pretty high tech there! any complication to the stickers will hamper the growth as they would become more expensive to produce. it is meant to pressurize the drivers to change for the better, if not only to get a sticker.
I think no one heard me the last time so let me shout now :-
WHY SHOULD AUTO’S FOLLOW METERS. WHY CAN’T THE CUSTOMER AND AUTO DRIVER JUST AGREE ON A CERTAIN PRICE FOR THE RIDE? I THINK IT IS NOT FAIR TO THE AUTO DRIVER TO FORCE HIM TO GO FOR A CERTAIN AMOUNT FIXED BY THE GOVERNMENT OR ANYONE ELSE.
Vignesh, you saw the other side of the coin, millions of thanks to you man. But your idea wont work because charity never really improves anyone’s financial situation, neither the giver not the receiver.
@siddharth not sure whether that’s a feasible solution. there will then be no limit to what the auto drivers will demand and what the passengers will agree to. will increase chances of harassment and confrontations. but why do you think that fixed fares are the way to go?
True.
And number plates would be better than AR Tags. Another High tech idea – Distance meters. Some cellphones have GPS apps that track distances. If you know the standard rate per hour, you can do a price check yourself… Google Maps can check distances too. Create a list of all common places you go to and compare the actual price with the spoken price. I’ve only said the last few things as a means to research to see how much/little the price increase really is. That way you’ll know what the govt has done to cope with costs of living.
It would also be a big fail if something in the unions or the government happens and they change their attitude. I actually agree with Vignesh and the other Siddharth. There should be a grassroots movement to increase awareness of their side of the story… not necessarily fundraisers…
There still has to be a notification to their community. Who would allow a passenger to put up a sticker on their vehicle?
@Siddharth,
Well no one is aloud to decide how much salary you demand and how much your employer is aloud to pay you. In fact you are guaranteed a minimum wage by the government.. then why the step motherly attitude towards auto drivers. May the meter be a minimum guaranteed payment.
Sid that’s really Nice idea but I believe this involves money as well as time also and sometime some auto drivers are so fussy they won’t allow for this step and unnecessarily visitors will get into trouble if they won’t be knowing the language.
Lately, I am also facing the same problem. What ever you give Gyan, they never listen to you.
So what’s my suggestion is instead of doing this…Why you don’t start some site link where we can put the name of Auto driver with his auto no who is tempering the meter. The name and no can be taken from his driving license display info. Then info can be shared by no of social networking sites.
This way it might encourage the people to avoid taking auto or which auto to take or not.
Just give a try if you find any possibility or hope?