Will autorickshaws become scarce along the metro route in Bangalore once Namma Metro starts operations? What will happen to these vehicles, which have been the backbone of the city's transport for more than three decades.
There are more than 85,000 registered autorickshaws and thousands of unregistered ones in the city. Apart from them, the BMTC, till recently, was the only other means of public transport in Bangalore. But not any longer. The metro is slated to join the city's transport map shortly when the Byappanahalli-M.G. Road section will be opened to the public.
When this happens, it is going to directly impact the autorickshaws as there would be very few willing to shell out Rs. 70 for an auto ride from Byappanahalli to M.G. Road. Metro has pegged fares on this sector at Rs. 15 and Rs. 10 for the stations in between.
More importantly, Namma Metro has joined hands with the BMTC to provide easy “pick up and drop” services for commuters living in the vicinity of the metro stations. To make this scheme more attractive, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation limited (BMRCL) plans to permit passengers to buy tokens to enter the metro stations in the bus itself apart from offering combo tickets for metro/bus travel.
On its part, the BMTC has identified routes to ply around the metro stations and named them feeder services.
These services will operate from early morning till 11 p.m., when the last metro train ceases service.
BMRCL Managing Director N. Sivasailam recently said in Indiranagar that the metro would initially operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and each train would comprise three coaches with a carrying load of 975 passengers. The trains would operate at four-minute intervals from Byappanahalli to M.G. Road and if need be the time could be reduced to two and half minutes.
Chief Public Relations Officer of BMRCL Yeswanth Chavan says travel time from Byappanahalli to M.G. Road would be cut to half from the present time of nearly an hour.
Sreenivasa Murthy of Autorickshaw Drivers' Union (ARDU) too has similar views. He says autorickshaws have to provide better service. He, however cautions the Government against sidelining autorickshaws.
“We will fight back, metro or no metro”, he says.
Agreeing with this view, G.S. Kumar, president of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Autochalakara Sangha says they have taken note of the danger posed to their livelihood by the metro and also by the BMTC.
“Give us facilities and we will give Bangaloreans better services,” he says and calls for exclusive bays for autorickshaws, rest houses and parking stands. “Show me a single shelter or building which is meant exclusively for autorickshaws and their drivers.” The traffic police feel that the days of the autorickshaws, at least in central business district, are numbered.
Why would anyone wait for and take an autorickshaw when he can travel more comfortably on the metro? asks Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order and Traffic), Bangalore.
Transport Commissioner Bhasker Rao says autorickshaw drivers have to regroup to offer better and coordinated services.
