Jitu

What is the worst that can happen to anybody, if he or she needs to go somewhere and does not have a bike, car or cycle in Bangalore? You need to catch an auto rickshaw. Most of the drivers are pretty good in cheating, beside the fact that they have never ever change with them, so that you have to pay more (e.g. fare is Rs.46, so most of the times you automatically pay Rs.50 or almost +10%, because the driver cannot give change which is just a round lie). As soon as they see a foreigner (and a foreigner also includes non-Karnataka people in this case) the fare meter conks of. Let me tell the story of three examples I experienced in just this week:

A friend (a not Kannada speaker) and I wanted to go from Tata Institute (the IISc) to S.P. road. Usually the auto fare is around Rs.60. Before we got onto the rickshaw, the driver agreed to use the fair meter. But although he had a digital fare meter which should be tamper proof, it was either way to fast and therefore manipulated or he just made a long detour. The final fair was around Rs.110, which was double of the expecting amount. Starting a discussion is always fruitless in these case. So we finally ended up and paid just to get rid of him.
Then we wanted to go from S.P. road to Majestic (the main train station of Bangalore). The distance is less than 2km, so the fare should be exactly Rs.14. Because of the driver-sees-a-foreigner issue, I stood aside watching the scene and pretending that I have absolutely nothing to do with my friend, while he stopped a rickshaw and bargained about the price. He agreed to pay Rs.30 (more than twice than the expected price) and told me that he found one. As soon as the driver saw me, the price jumped to Rs.50 suddenly. SO we did not take it.
And third and last: A friend of mine arrived in Yeshwanthpur train station today. Since he will stay for one year here at the IISc, he had lots of luggage and a desktop computer. We went to the auto rickshaw stand to catch an auto. The first guy wanted to have Rs.100 for a distance of less than 2km. This was very insulting. Since he made fun of us, I started to shout at him and sent him away. The next potential candidate said Rs.30 plus meter to which we agreed. Accordingly to the distance from the train station to IISc, it will exactly be Rs.44. The problem was, that as soon as he loaded the luggage in his auto rickshaw, he suddenly could not remember his offer. And the most suprising part, he did not even have a meter. A long and exhausting discussion followed.
If you need a transport it is always save to go by bus or to arrange an auto through one of the police booths, which you can find near crowded places (e.g. MG road). The police officer will issue a paper, saying the number from the number plate of the rickshaw, the destination and the price. Maybe the price is a little bit higher what you can reach through bargaining. But it is definitely less than you will pay, if you start to bargain (including the nerves).

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