Thiruvananthapuram: As the early morning flig-ht of a domestic airline from Bengaluru arrives at Thiruvananthapuram airport, the taxi-auto drivers swarm in to pick up tourists. And as is the tradition the rates in auto rickshaws are not based on the meter but bargains.
The situation is worse at Kochuveli railway station which suffers poor connectivity with the city.
“From a tourist’s perspective, the first impression of a city is instilled by people who pick them up upon their arrival at the destination. I have visited the city four times before and many times we were overcharged beyond meter rate. It’s an issue the drivers in our country themselves have to ponder upon because we have online taxis,” said Vishal Kumar, who hails from Bengaluru.
When quizzed about this to one of the auto drivers, he claimed that the trips were rarer on Sunday and hence some hesitate to go by the meter that day.
“The fuel prices are increasing and we do not earn a lot from auto rickshaws. Adding to this is the general perception that all auto drivers are a nuisance. So we are considered villains in an unfair manner,” driver Raveendran Nair said.
“The aggrieved people should take the onus to complain so that we can book all erring drivers. Usually, they are summoned in the presence of passenger themselves. We do receive complaints of over-charging across the city and Kochuveli is no exception,” said a senior traffic official.
The city police, in order to weed out vehicles from outside the city recently regularised around 10,000 auto rickshaws. Most of them were plying illegally.
