Our About Us section presents the genesis of AutoRaja. It was in fact a little over two years back that one of the founding members of the organisation was engaged in profiling the lives and auto-rickshaw operations of drivers in Chennai. Soon, in late 2010, a larger study proving to be the first of its kind in India was conducted by Chennai City Connect.[1] The survey-based study presented interesting insights into the way things work in our city. What follow here in our Blog Section are snapshots into the 2010-11 studies, brief life-accounts of independent drivers, and views and experiences of auto-rickshaw commuters.
Auto-rickshaws were first introduced in Chennai as early as 1960. As the attached timeline suggests, things weren’t always easy or smooth for everybody involved in this unorganised sector – the drivers, the commuters, the manufacturers, the administrators and law-enforcers, and the society at large: fares had to be set first and then periodically revised, permits had to be issued to those who intended to buy autos, limits had to be imposed to the number of permits issued every year, a badge or the license to drive had to be obtained by anybody who wished to become a driver of a contract carriage- i.e. auto-rickshaw, committees had to be set up to monitor issue of permits and licenses and fare revision, the law-enforcing agents had to be trained to enforce the use of fare meters, and so much more! Further points presented themselves for the administrators to ponder over – who should become an auto driver, what should the minimum qualifications be, who should own an auto-rickshaw, how many autos can one individual own, how should the fares be fixed, do we have a national formula for meter fares, do we have a state-specific formula, should the government fix fares, how should the fares be revised with unit increase in petrol or gas prices, is LPG/CNG any better than petrol?! With over five decades of limited success[2], the city has reached the stage of stalemate – commuters are unhappy, drivers are dissatisfied, government seems helpless, and the media can only report.
Can things change? For good at that? Yes. Auto Raja addresses these very pain points.
How? Keep reading this space to know more.
[1] http://chennaicityconnect.com/project-blogs/autorickshaw-study-report/
[2] Read a recent blog post at The Hindu http://bit.ly/UNg3Qc
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