Opinion Not just Saif Ali Khan, the humble auto is every Indian’s lifeline

The autokaran, made iconic by Rajinikanth in the blockbuster Baashha (1995), is sometimes reviled for refusal to accept a passenger or for unreasonable charges but strangely can also be a trusted figure. In southern cities, it is common practice for families who are hesitant to let women and girls travel alone to call up a local, familiar auto driver and arrange the trip with him.

Vital in smaller cities

In tier two and tier three cities of northern India, there are typically no public intra-city buses because the economics do not work for the operator. Therefore, only intercity buses operate, whose routes are invariably linear, connecting only north-south or east-west. That’s where the auto comes to the rescue in heroic glory when someone lacks a private vehicle, even covering distances of over 20 kilometres. For instance, in a pinch, I have travelled from Noida to Greater Noida, a route that is underserved by buses, in an auto, the small vehicle cruising along the expressway, against the gust of hot loo winds.

Last mile connectivity

Last mile connectivity is the holy grail of public transport that no Indian city has been able to fully solve in a scalable manner. Despite fancy solutions ranging from feeder buses to electric scooters being discussed in many a seminar, on the ground, it is the informal network of rickshaws and autos that greet passengers alighting at a metro station and drop them at their homes. For thousands of commuters, there would be no first or last-mile connectivity to transport hubs were it not for three-wheelers.

Integral to our socio-cultural-economic life

Seventy-five per cent of autos in the world are in India, providing livelihoods to hundreds of drivers, and we are also the largest producers of auto rickshaws globally. Autos add colour to the city landscape with creative quotes on the back that range from the sophisticated (No money for Volkswagen, thus Auto) to the wise (Buri nazar wale, tere bhi ho bhala).

Despite its undeniable utility and dominant presence, urban transport policy relegates autos, along with rickshaws, tempos, taxis and mini-buses, to a category called “Informal or Intermediate para transit” (IPTs), a term that by definition implies a somewhat lesser being in the public transport pantheon. On the contrary, according to a 2023 report on the electrification of auto rickshaws, autos account for a quarter of all urban trips.

Policies for granting permits to autos and setting of fares are hostile and unnecessarily complex. In many cities, autos are set up to compete rather than complement mass transit services. To cite one example, Jalandhar, a tier-two city, has not had a city bus service for a decade. In 2014, the private operator managing the service stopped abruptly in protest that autos were competing with the bus service for passengers. It is for local authorities to work out a mobility plan where buses and autos can serve citizens in different ways and improve overall accessibility to places.

While government policies have been restrictive, the inclusion of autos by ride-hailing platforms has saved drivers the empty miles they were travelling while looking for passengers. Digitisation has made the auto more appealing because the element of bargaining is removed, and safety is enhanced because of the trackability of the ride. But out of the pale of technology, kerbside auto drivers abound, and they remain hustlers trying to buck the system and scrambling for an extra buck. Transport policy needs to treat autos as legitimate options rather than an annoyance on city roads. As a quote I read a few years ago on an auto took a dig at private cars and said “Hamari bhi kuch hasti hai, Nano isse bhi sasti hai.” (We autos are not the bottom of the heap, a Nano is cheaper than this).

The writer is a visiting fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP). The views expressed are the writer’s own and not those of CSEP