A majority of Indian auto rickshaws have no doors or seatbelts. They are generally yellow or green in colour and have a black roof on the top. Their design varies considerably from place to place. In some locations, they have an extra plank on the seat to accommodate a fourth passenger. In reality it is not uncommon to see 6-8 passengers in an auto rickshaw with such an ad hoc setup, although, in theory, autos risk fines for carrying more than three passengers in many places.
A proposal for starting pre-paid fare for autorickshaws and streamlining their movement at the Pune railway station has been stuck for nearly eight months now. The result passengers leaving the railway station continue to be fleeced as they are forced to pay lump-some charges demanded by the autorickshaw drivers.
Faced with the clampdown on overloading and imposition of the three plus one (driver) norm, autorickshaws in the city seem to have turned to fleecing passengers in the name of compensating their fare loss.
This is hard to believe, but there is not a single legally authorised stand for the 55,000-odd auto rickshaws registered in the capital, says a suit filed by an NGO that is working to improve the lives of auto rickshaw drivers.
In a drive against autorickshaws that have outlived their lifespan but are still plying on the city roads, the traffic police seized 78 autorickshaws on Thursday and Friday using BlackBerry phones under the traff-i-cop project.
According to traffic police, there are about 5,000 such “scrap” autorickshaws plying in the city without permission. Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic) Manoj Patil said scrap autorickshaws were being illegally sold for Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 each after being painted and illegally equipped with meters and number plates.
Autorickshaws must be from Venus. They behave pretty much like women anyway. Listed below are a few comparisons. I am sure people more observant and imaginative than I am, will come up with more.
It was just another hot day in Jaipur when Harish, an autorickshaw driver, sees Whitney, a University of Chicago student, in the distance and was awestruck. He asks her out for a cup of tea and she says no. He asks again, and she says no again. But Harish’s persistence pays off, by the fourth time she comes around and they both grab a cup of tea. He shows her around Jaipur and, at the end of the day, he proposes to her. She accepts.
US tourist hitches rickshaw, weds driver in a week:
A 26-year-old American tourist travelling in India hitched a ride in a rickshaw last week and married the driver a few days later.
Whitney from Chicago met her prince charming in Jaipur in Rajasthan, a state west of the capital famous for its stately palaces, after hailing a motorised rickshaw and hiring the driver for her stay in the city, the Mail Today newspaper said.
“On the third day, he surprised me by popping the question,” Whitney told the paper. “‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you’, he told me. I fell in love.”
After meeting last Saturday they were married on Wednesday in a simple ceremony. Whitney was pictured in the paper, standing with new husband Harish Hotala, wearing a traditional sari that covered her head.
The paper said Hotala was “a cabbie with a difference,” however. “Though a school dropout, he is fluent in English and owns three autorickshaws,” it said.
Mumbai autorickshaws are called `ricksha’ by the local commuters.
