Citizens taken for a ride

Fare-fixing: TOI looks at how commuters are at the mercy of auto drivers as there is no meter system in the twin cities
"I was shocked when I found that there was neither prepaid nor meter auto service in the city, that too in a city like Hubli which is growing rapidly. I was at the mercy of the auto drivers as they charged me as much as taxi fare in New Delhi to reach my destination which was just 3km from the railway station,'' said Anand Jhah, a final year BE student from New Delhi.He is studying information science at BVB College at Vidyanagar. "I reached Hubli in the wee hours and I hired an auto to Vidyanagar to reach my hostel. The auto driver demanded Rs 100, I bargained and paid Rs 80," he added.
This is not a one-off incident. Driver-commuter bargaining is quite common as autos don't run on meters here. As a result, auto drivers charge arbitrarily.
An IT professional Deepika Bhat said: "I had a harrowing experience as soon as I landed from Rani Chennamma Express early in the morning when I found that autos didn't have meter system and drivers charged you at their will. I had to fight with the auto drivers when they quoted exorbitant fare to drop me to a hotel on Gokul Road. I had no choice and had to pay Rs 90," she said.
Whenever police and RTO try to make meters mandatory for autos, auto associations oppose it citing reasons like bad roads, fluctuating petrol prices and high dead mileage.
Aslam Khan, an auto driver, said: "It is wrong to say that we charge high fares. We demand reasonable fares from passengers but there are some auto drivers who extort money from passengers. But not everyone should be blamed for someone's else's wrongdoing."
Another auto driver Basappa Mahadev said: "Meter system is not feasible in a city like Hubli or Dharwad as the floating population is very less except in few areas. We demand extra money only when we go to remote areas from where we can't get passengers as we have to cover the dead mileage charge of returning empty to the auto stand. We do charge higher fare during late night hours."
Quote hanger
"We are planning to bring in the meter system for autos in the twin cities and in this regard we are already in talks with the district administration and police. Soon meter system will be brought into force and to effectively implement the system we need the support of public."
N M Balwalli | RTO, Dharwad district
"Visitors to the city and auto passengers can complain to the police if they are harassed by auto drivers. So far we haven't received any complaints against auto drivers in the city."
Shrinath Joshi | DCP, Crime and Traffic, Hubli-Dharwad Police Commissionerate
Autofocus
There are around 8,000 autos in Hubli city and 3,500 autos in Dharwad
Of the total 11,500 autos in the twin cities, around 4000 autos run on gas