of travelling during peak office hours (9:00-11:00 AM and 5:00-8:00 PM) you will know how it is to wait for an auto. Minutes will pass by the clockwork and you will still be stranded in the scorching heat. If at all, you do come across a vacant auto, he will ask for a higher than usual amount. They insist on being paid a heftier fare, or else they dash past with the airs of royalty, blowing dust and exhaust in your face.
This is the war of demand and supply in its most unadulterated form, since the demand is greater than supply, the price rises. You might feel that you are swimming against the tide, but turning the tables and controlling the market forces is easier and more effortless than you think. By simply relocating yourself to an area which has more of supply is the most obvious solution. If you ever go to an auto stand (generally near a commercial or centrally located area) you will find autos in plenty and perhaps the most affable and obliging auto drivers ever. They will go where you want to, and that too at charges acceptable to you.You will also find it much easier to get autos (if you are finicky, like me) at affordable rates near metro stations and bus stands, because these transport services are close substitutes of each other.And these are not sweeping generalizations, try them sometime, you’ll be surprised how beautifully the dynamics work.
There has been a recent boom in the market for information, sharing and spreading of the same. Autos have played a pivotal role in developing markets like these. They have the potential to act as ambassadors of cultural amalgamation and welfare policies. They have begun to be used as carriers of messages and ideas that affect the psychology of the fare and the general public.They travel from place to place carrying messages like “Hum Do Humare Do” or “Ram Aur Rahim ek hain”. They have acted as a medium for spreading cultural and secular messages, which have impacted the ideologies of the readers in a very small but significant manner.
The omnipresent auto rickshaw and its often-disobliging drivers call themselves the scapegoats for the policy makers. They blame the administration for their apathetic condition; they allege the system of neglecting market realities while fixing fare rates.
Their vicissitude renders them a lesser of many evils, some times pleasant and at other times petulant, a little amiable and at times arrogant, the auto driver with his yellow-green contraption is an indelible part of any commuters’ life. So they are, the omnipotent auto rickshaw: transporter, advertiser, con man, your very own world for as long as you can pay for hire; emblematic of the urban middle class travel.Au revoir!
About the Author
Currently pursuing Economics from Delhi university.
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