When meters don't work, will Bengaluru's autorickshaws install GPS?
- By 2018, all commercial vehicles must have GPS devices in Karnataka.
- This will be mandatory for autorickshaws also, but is the plan feasible?
- In Bengaluru, finding a fare-meter that is accurate is a minor challenge.
FollowThe Karnataka Transport Authority is planning to make installation of GPS mandatory for all commercial vehicles in the state by the end of 2017. According to sources from the government, everything from trucks to BMTC and KSRTC buses and to autorickshaws - every vehicle in the state will have to install a tracking device.
Also Read: GPS, a must for all Karnataka commercial vehicles by 2018
This is a great move by the authorities to ensure passengers’ safety, locate stolen vehicles, prevent illegal activity and in general to ensure that commercial vehicles are under a scanner. However, autorickshaws and rules are not the most apt word combinations anywhere in India.
In India, there are two kinds of public transportation facilities - one is public transport and the other is autorickshaws. Apart from these three-wheeled wonders, everything else has rules, and they mostly prefer to follow them - barring a few exceptions. But, in the case of autorickshaws, the rule breakers are not the exceptions, but rather the norm.
One of the most common rules that the autorickshaw drivers do not care to follow is having an accurate fare-meter. It is challenging to find an auto with a functional meter and a driver willing to go by the meter without arguing with passengers. Indeed, if an auto driver proposes to go by the fare-meter, it often makes the passenger question the driver’s intention.
Also, autorickshaws and fare-meters often share a complicated multi-dimensional relationship. For example, many autos don’t have fare-meters, some autos have meters but they do not work, some auto do have working meters but the driver is not willing to go by meter fare, if the fare-meter is working and the auto driver is ready to charge by the meter, it could well be tampered with - and so on and so forth.
In short, though it is mandatory for autos to have a fare-meter and charge passengers as per the meter yet, it has not been effectively implemented in all autorickshaw. In this reality, it has to be seen how the Karnataka transport authority will implement the GPS mandate on autorickshaws.
Also, the owner will have to get the GPS device installed at his/her own expense, meaning there is a good chance that Bengaluru autos may never have GPS device on their not-so-fast yet furious rides.
