Mumbai’s auto population zooms past 2 lakh; 1 for every 5 commuters

MUMBAI: The autorickshaw population in Mumbai has crossed a record 2-lakh mark, with nearly 1.4 lakh autos plying in the western suburbs alone. For every five commuters, there is one autorickshaw available now, compared to three years ago when there was one auto for 10 commuters and refusals were rampant.

“The rules have been relaxed to allow more people, specially unemployed youths, to obtain an autorickshaw permit easily.This has led to the proliferation of autos on the city’s streets,” said state transport commissioner Shekhar Channe. He, however, clarified that the department conducted all necessary background/crime checks and scrutinised all documents before issuing permits.
Statistics available on Tuesday reveal that the auto population spiralled by 25,000 new vehicles in the past six months—from 1.82 lakh to 2.07 lakh autos as of date.
The overall increase in the past three years has been 97%,, from 1.05 lakh autos in 2016 to 2.07 lakh in January 2019.
Transport officials said that the presence of more autos on roads has automatically curbed the refusal menace to a great extent. However, some activists refuse to buy this theory. The new autos also cater to the increasing demand at 110 share-auto stands in the eastern and western suburbs, which are a hit with passengers. The share autos ensure zero refusals, more earnings for drivers, and lower expense (44% of normal fare) for passengers.
More than 70% of autos on roads ply on the share routes daily during morning and evening peak hours, said auto union members. So, now almost 1.5 lakh autos will be plying daily to cater to office-goers during rush hour. Close to 10 lakh commuters use the autos in Mumbai daily, transport officials said.
Commuters this newspaper spoke to welcomed the presence of more autos, but said there was also the fear of these autos causing traffic snarls on feeder routes outside station. “At times, we are unable to walk out from the station area as several autos are parked haphazardly or take U-turns,” said Sangita Rane, a daily office-goer from Goregaon.
Commuters demanded that the traffic police and RTO who have allowed more autos on streets should also keep a vigil on unscrupulous elements. “There are drivers who behave rudely with you, many still continue to refuse passengers and there are some who fleece you with rigged meters or inflated fares,” said Navinbhai Thakker, a senior citizen. Many passengers, specially women, students and senior citizens, are still stranded on the road due to refusals, which continue unabatedly.
Mumbai Autorickshawmen’s Union leader Shashank Rao claimed that the rise in number of autos had reduced refusals somewhat. “When you have more autos on the road, there is stiff competition and a driver will not prefer to refuse passenger,” he said. A few years ago, he had suggested to the state transport ministry that there should be two lakh autos in the suburbs, and his demand has finally been fulfilled by the government.
Apart from 2.07 lakh registered autos in suburbs, there is a nuisance posed by 30,000 illegal autos—which ply without valid permits or are scrapped but come back on the road. State transport minister Diwakar Raote had recently directed the transport department to weed out these illegal autos from suburbs. For RTO, it seems to be a “mammoth task” as they are short-staffed and there is also no space to keep the impounded vehicles. As a result, RTO officials merely slap showcause notices on unscrupulous driver and let them off without seizing the vehicles. The actual procedure is to impound the vehicle and pulp it so that there is no scope of it returning to business.
Transport activist Jagdeep Desai said he has personally faced many refusals by auto drivers and this is frustrating. “With the auto population increasing, there are many which just loiter on the roads, and add to the congestion. The RTO rarely conducts drives to punish these rogue drivers,” he said. RTO officials said they carried out regular drives and have suspended several licences besides recovering fines from the errant drivers.