Now the topic might sound like some techincal paper. All I have to give is some alternative mode of transport other than the Auto Rickshaws in Bangalore.
Scenario #1.
You want to travel >10 KM to the railway station. You take an auto, its meter is tampered (FOR SURE, trust me) and you end up paying 105 (as the meter shows 15kms, while the actual distance is 10) + 40 (for luggage, even if you alone) + 20 (extra, Bangalore special, this is variable and depends on how fluently you can argue in kannada or hindi). = 165Rs total for a mere 10Km trip.
Scenario #2.
You want to pick someone from the railway station(10Kms) and you take an auto to the railway station and another back home. So the total would come around 300Rs. Warning : Don’t take prepaid auto’s they would fight with you when you reach the destination and ask for ‘Bangalore Extra’ citing reasons like the petrol price hiked or your house is too far, or that he wants to buy a new flat, or that he did not pay his emi for his new car and so on.
Now the Alternative would be to take a city cab. You could hire a city cab for 400Rs in Bangalore for 4 hours or 40KMS(whichever comes first). So if you want to pick someone from the railway station and hang around in the city, hire a cab. That’s cheaper, safer and comfortable. You can bargain and get a good rate fixed and trust me, they will stick to their promise unlike our beloved auto drivers.
Scenario #3.
You want to go to the airport? Autos cannot take you to the new airport. You would end up paying 850Rs for the city taxis. Get Meru cabs instead. These are premium cabs (with a.c, Mahindra Logan cars) and will charge you 15Rs/KM, as they won’t charge you extra for one direction trip ( The normal call taxis (without a.c, maruthi omni cars) will ask you extra charge for one direction trip).
Or Airlift Taxis which is best if you are alone and a single seat would cost you 300Rs.
or BMTC Vajara Volvo buses from designated busstops for 120Rs.
My advice to anyone travelling in Bangalore is DONT TAKE AN AUTO!! (By not following this advice you are inviting trouble. Like and old saying, walking into Lion’s Den !)
Scenario #4.
You are not sure where you want to go and how long you are gonna hangout and don’t want to bargain with the auto nor taxis, take the city volvos.
THE CRAPBOOK 
lol,nice tips..;.but guess b’lores rates are cheaper to certain extent..
Rates are cheap. But they want more. more more more. 🙂
You do have nice alternatives available at least. It’s just auto rickshaws or simple rickshaws in here. Buses are non existent. But auto’s charge reasonably. The only trouble is that they’re overstuffed and precariously balanced. Most of them are old and cause a lot of sound and air pollution too. But there’s no other option.
Must read for visitors o Bangalore I say!!
Yeah! The funny thing about these autos are that they know the city cannot survive without them! There should be some drastic measures taken to cut their tails! Morons!!
hahaha….
//You would end up paying 850Rs// for auto , thats too much really.. the maximum i have paid for an auto is Rs 15
well thanks for this info. i havent ever been to blore 😀
Hmm useful info..maybe i should note it down or save it as a pdf for future use. 🙂
When I lived in bangalore the autos weren’t that bad but I’ve heard they’ve become so. I don’t know when I will go to bangalore next, but no, I won’t take an auto! in any case cabs are comfortable and one thing I detest and that is arguing with the drivers.
I think this is a useful post but it doesn’t come through in the title. Perhaps you could add the word Bangalore in the title…like add the two word – in bangalore. That would get you more search engine hits.
[…] The Alternative to Auto. By Xylene You take an auto, its meter is tampered (FOR SURE, trust me) and you end up paying 105 (as the meter shows 15kms, while the actual distance is 10) + 40 (for luggage, even if you alone) + 20 (extra, Bangalore special, this is variable … The Crapbook – https://crapbook.wordpress.com […]
ish,
Do u guys have share autos? likein chennai? its cheap and they have fixed rates.
Balu,
From my experience 🙂
Nikhil,
very true,
like we cannot avoid them altogether, its everywhere and easy to find one.
Reema,
haha, u can do that. 🙂 thanx.
Nita,
Most of the things have changes with the IT growing like anything, but there is a rumor spreading that the growth has saturated now.
everyone wants their share, the milk is sold at 50ps more. the brown boiled rice (which cost 19rs in kerala is sold at 32rs/kg in supermarkets) is expensive, the rates for auto drivers are however reasonable, but their attitude is not.
I am not sure why they cheat people when you can always make money the right way.
And I have modified the title, u are right.
Agree with you on the Volvo part… on the last 2 trips (including a late night arrival), I have taken the Volvo… very convinient… just wish they’d have more of these on the local routes.
correction .. “on the last two trips to the airport”….
Rekha,
850 is for the taxis, the autos wont take u to the new airport, its prohibited near the airport area.
A biggg no to Autos… I hate them there in Blore … no other comments buddy.. they are biggg **********
this is one good info.. will definately help when i visit bangalore 🙂
dinu,
🙂
Sakhi,
thanx
Vijay,
Thats wat ppl ar telling me. Volvos are cheap and comforatbale.
ha well i can say that the chennai auto guys want MORE,MORE,MORE ,MORE ,MORE…MONEY!
These are some practical tips
i had been to b’lore 3yrs back and it wasn’t that bad in a prepaid rick.
Auto guys have their union and vote lobby so they will oppose change , but i agree bangalore needs an upgaded pub bus service on the lines of mumbai best, cause the traffic gets terrible.
Autos are bad everywhere. In Delhi too, we have problems, they overcharge and also refuse to ply. For newcomers, they are quick to misbehave and cheat.
Though Bangalore experiences are even more worse than those in Delhi. Auto helpline numbers have been useless so far. There is little you can do when autos refuse to ply.
Looks like I can do without autos in Bangalore.
vishesh, 🙂
prax, the prepaid itself charge more atleast 3 kms charge more. and then the autodrivers ask for even more. 😦
Poonam,
its sad that the auto ppl dont care about the common people. I thought they were common ppl.
U can live without autos in bangalore. but then u need some patience.
Rs.300 trip from near old airport to new one is good one, comfortable than Volvo Bus I think and also better than taking ones own vehicle to and fro.
I know that are not good. But I have seen worst at other places. Bottom line is Autowala’s will remain autowalas no matter which city you are in, only variation is from bad to worst 😀
Volvo suggestion- Hey! They don’t have volvos in any of the route I want to take? What do I do???
I would say get autos only if you know the places and routes very well. I prefer to travel on volvos wherever that facility is available. Volvo is much better than autos. If you want to travel to airport, I strongly recommend volvos. Btw, airlift cabs come with wi-fi.. hmmm something that a techie prefers. 🙂
I daily take auto twice a day religiously…and what a pain it is here in Delhi too. But, I would say Bangalore is far worse.
Sometimes the situation becomes very funny:
Auto seeker: Bhaiya, metro station chalenge kya.
Auto wala: nahi
Auto seeker: Toh bhaiya kahan jaoge, wahi ghar leney ki sochte hain. 🙂
I wish govt. cud do something about it. But, I guess I am hoping against hope. But thanks for making us aware. If I ever got a chance to go to bangalore, I will remember what I read.
Anshul,
The volvo is a blessing.
Bluemist 🙂
welcome to my blog.
Nikhil,
Either change ur plan or take a local bus. 🙂
harsha,
airlift taxi is cool.
we should start a auto drivers hate club ! bleh !
@megcloud9
haha, yea i have over 10 posts about autodrivers. 😀
B,lore autos are much better when compare the autos in other part of country, Cochin autos are sick
Interesting, though I would strongly recommend against travelling by Airlift cabs to the airport. They sent me a cab an hour late thanks to which I actually missed my flight, had to buy a new ticket for the next day and then travel 2 hours back to the city. You’re much better off taking the BMTC shuttle if you don’t have much luggage. It’ll cost you half as much and it’s predictable. Sorry to vent on your blog it’s the first link that comes up on google if you sear h for airlift cabs, after the company site, so I figure this is the best way to spread the feedback. Feel free to delete the comment if this is a personal blog. Thanks
Yup, VOLVOs seem to be the most comfortable mode of transport in Blore, it seems.
But what if you are in a hurry, and have some pennies to spare? Surely, the cabs wont be able to fly on footpaths and through between those avenue trees as the autowallas do..:)
Best way to negotiate the Bangalore gridlock..the 3 wheeler mundras!
JC,
Thanks for stopping by. We do need feedbacks from people like you who have suffered. But the volvos also are not best adviced as some of them don’t turn up !.
Scorpio,
Oh hell ya, they can’t go on the sidewalks.
Hi all… I’m here to share my auto experience. Today, I was traveling from Vijaynagar to M G Road… I have used auto before on this route. I know it takes exactly 77 Rupees for around 11 or so kilometres when we take the Goripalya then the flyover till townhall, kasturba road then cubbon road till almost near Trinity circle. But the auto I took had meter tampered and it was not digital. It went way over 100 Rupees. It stopped at 99.50 had to be returned to zero position. He also kept conversing with me just to make sure if I knew nothing and I could be cheated, I think. When I kept looking at the meter and mentally took note of his license number and other details, he admitted that there was problem in his meter and I could pay him 10 Rupees less.
But most unexpected thing happened. I was about to pay him 90 Rupees instead of 80 Rupees the usual fare, and I told him so… But the guy returned 20 for my 100, took only 80 even if he took a longer route. Thankfully this time I was saved. Just because I knew how much it would cost and argued boldly, or he felt like not cheating me, I don’t know… But this is my today’s experience
To add one more thing, out of many experiences, there have been some good ones too, where auto drivers helped me to find an address both of us did not know, taken through shorter routes and many such things, but the number of experiences where meters tampered, charged more, demanded one and a half or double, or taking totally round about routes and so on are far more than the good experiences. So the overall impression remains negative.
Yesterday, on one of the radio channels, there was a show on which people could share their experiences and autodrivers could share their experiences as well… Through that I came to know about many incidents of auto drivers robbing, cheating, refusing to come to required place and so many others…
One of my suggestions is to have shareautos with fixed price and fixed routes at least for some of the areas just like in many other cities…
Introducing Easy Auto for all Bangaloreans!!!
Just Go through this site: http://www.easyauto.in/
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njoy!!!
(far better than struggling with generic auto drivers for fare/destination)