Namma Auto’s S. Abdullah and Mansoor Ali Khan (Image: R. Shivaji Rao, The Hindu)
For years, Chennai commuters have been at the mercy of rickshaw drivers overcharging for short trips around town. Despite meters being installed and official government caps on prices, finding a rickshaw driver who would adhere to such honest principles was an uncommon blessing. Even a leading travel guide once described Chennai as a city “ruled by hardline rickshaw drivers”.
Enter Namma Auto, a company which has committed to fair pricing for its passengers, and with the technology to lead the way. Four years in the planning, Namma Auto launched on May 19 with just seventeen vehicles, reports the Deccan Chronicle. By early June, the fleet numbered 50, and there are plans to grow it to 350 in the near future.
Established by friends S. Abdulla and Mansoor Ali Khan, Namma Auto tracks each one of its vehicles with GPS and an integrated computer system. A driver database also exists, as does a call centre which never closes. However at the centre of the project is the tamper-proof digital fare meter, which provides a printed receipt of the transaction, and also features a panic button in case things go awry.
Namma Auto’s tamper-proof meter (Image: Namma Auto)
An attractive range of salary packages has also been set up to entice drivers away from the lucrative but unregulated dependence on overcharging. “An auto driver (for Namma Auto) earns from Rs 4,500 to Rs 18,000 a month, with a percentage cut on a daily basis” said general manager Moosa Sabikhan to the Deccan Chronicle. “While this keeps them motivated in their job, we also provide them with a free auto after a stipulated period of time, ranging from 36 to 42 months, depending on the scheme they choose.”
Despite some backlash from other autorickshaw drivers, the revolutionary system is attracting a steady stream of happy customers, and is expanding quickly. In an interview with The Hindu, founder Mansoor Ali Khan mentioned 300 vehicles as the point at which the company would breakeven, and suggested 11,000 as a possible future target. He continued by saying that the cities of Madurai, Erode and Coimbatore would be in the company’s sights.
I think that regulating the autorickshaw industry in Chennai is a good thing so that people are not ripped off by unscrupulous operators but at the same time I wonder if that takes away a bit of the fun in using autorickshaws. If the industry then becomes a bit “sanitised”. All in all our experience (apart from the hair raising traffic & driving) using autorickshaws was a positive one and we met some very good and honest people who were driving them.
Thanks for commenting! I know what you mean about the fun of using the rickshaws, but I guess this is a positive step, especially considering people are frequently charged 10 or 15 times the government approved rate! Namma Auto is a private company, so although this will provide a better option, it doesn’t amount to an overall industry regulation – there are still an estimated 78,000 other rickshaws on Chennai’s roads, not licensed to Namma Auto!!!