Karnataka - Bangalore

Jams are eating into their bread

Photo: K. Gopinathan

Lost revenue: Autorickshaw drivers get stranded in traffic snarls for a long time in Bangalore every day. —

BANGALORE: Traffic jams are not only causing hardship to motorists but also have dented the earnings of autorickshaw drivers in the city.

There are about 75,000 autorickshaws and over one lakh drivers in the city, who cater to the needs of 15 lakh passengers every day. On an average, a driver makes 30 trips a day and earns around Rs. 600, according to the statistics provided by the Bangalore traffic police.

However, following frequent traffic jams and slow movement of vehicles on most of the roads in the city, the number of trips and also the earnings of autorickshaw drivers have come down drastically.

“Every day I get stranded in traffic snarls for nearly two hours. It could be for 15 minutes during one trip and 20 minutes during the other. In these two hours, I would have easily made some five trips and earned Rs. 150 more,” says driver Manjunath of Girinagar T Block.

Another driver, R. Balaram of V.S. Garden on Mysore Road, says that fuel consumption of his autorickshaw has been increasing as he is forced to use the second and third gears because of slow traffic. While the number of trips has come down, the fuel expenses have increased. Further, the price of auto gas has gone up from Rs. 27 to Rs. 30 a litre. “All these are eating into our earnings,” laments Mr. Balaram.

Traffic jams are even forcing some seniors to retire from the profession. Rama Setty (65) of East Park Road in Malleswaram says that when he began his career in 1963 there were hardly 500 autorickshaws in Bangalore.

“Though I am physically fit, I cannot handle the stress due to heavy traffic and rash and negligent driving by other motorists. Nowadays there is no discipline on roads. So I have decided to retire and take up some other job,” Mr. Setty says.

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