<img alt="" src="/imagedata/2010/jun/nanjappa.jpg" align="left" border="0" />Why do they even have seventeen bucks as minimum fare? They might as well make it a rounded twenty, since you end up paying that anyway. "No change, saar!" from the rare, polite ones.u00a0 A terser "Change illa!" from the average guys. The auto unions fight, scream and grunt about the lack of money going into the goon's pockets. They hoarsely agitate for more money and better conditions for auto drivers and over costs going up. Well, what about the poor hapless auto commuter? Mumbai has its efficient trains and buses. Delhi has its Underground. We're stuck with the yellow and black, three-legged vicious monsters.u00a0Bangalore's auto fares, in fact, are reflective of the state of Bangalore.u00a0 As they getu00a0 expensive, the service just gets worse.u00a0 Why is it that the auto unions never, ever bring up the fact that autos drivers in Bangalore are some of the worst guys around?u00a0 They're easily the single largest group of vindictive, foul-mouthed folk.u00a0 You try telling them "No change!" and all you get it is abuse ufffd and the niggling feeling that he was doing you the favour of being bumped around in his chariot. They don't agree to go where you want to go. They curse you for wanting to go to Tippasandra, when they want to head tou00a0 Malleswaram-wards. And who are you to stop them in their stately progress, or complain as they chug away with a splash of slush over you? They quote astronomic figures that have no relationship to the meter attached to the auto. "Going Ulsoor? Where in Ulsoor? Near the lake? How near the lake? Ohhh!! Hundred Rupees!!" Minimum, non-union fares! Why don't autos just put up destination boards like buses? They could get even more specific than those lumbering blue and white monsters: "Indiranagar, 6th Main, 4th Cross, wonly", for example. It saves the driver from the effort of straightening up from his lackadaisical lounging position, and me from straining my vocal chords across Bangalore roads.u00a0 It saves my colleague from having to dart across traffic-laden roads, to flag an auto down, and promise him "10 rupees extraa!" only to receive that supercilious stare and a couple of cuss words. But no! They don't want to make our lives easier. We just have to guess which one out of the many hundreds standing around, deigns to go to Cunningham Road Cross. The poor BJP is under the mistaken impression it rules Karnataka. Have the Reddy Brothers bumped into an auto driver lately?

Why do they even have seventeen bucks as minimum fare? They might as well make it a rounded twenty, since you end up paying that anyway.

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