Even as pre-paid autorickshaw services have been introduced at Egmore Railway station, passengers at Chennai Central are complaining that it is very difficult to get an autorickshaw at the pre-paid stand.
On Wednesday, the Government Railway Police launched the pre-paid booth at Chennai Egmore Station, with close to a 100 autorickshaws operating from it.
However, questions remain regarding the effectiveness of the service at Chennai Central.
“In the past month, I arrived twice at Central from Bangalore and tried to take an autorickshaw to my house in T. Nagar. By the time I manoeuvred my way to the autorickshaw stand, four or five autorickshaw drivers had already approached me. The first time I decided to wait at the stand, but there were very few autorickshaws there. So, the second time around, I took an auto from outside,” said T. Hemalatha.
Ever since the Metro Rail work started, there has been very little space in the station and autorickshaws are forced to park in a haphazard manner in the vicinity.
“The first thing passengers see are these autorickshaws, who offer to carry them at lower rates than autorickshaws in the prepaid stand. So, many passengers end up taking them,” one of the vendors outside the station, K. Arumugam, said.
Railway police also said that traffic issues due to Metro Rail work have led to a lot of unauthorised parking of autorickshaws.
In July alone, 140 cases were booked for illegal parking and 43 cases were filed against autorickshaw and taxi drivers for canvassing passengers in the station.
“Drivers of autorickshaws who have parked illegally often approach passengers offering to take them. With the space crunch, a proper solution can come about only when the Metro Rail work is complete,” an official said.
