Price purchase parity.

I’ve been in Chennai for almost a week and shuttled daily between hotel where I had put up to Tidel Park for some official assignments. The only option which proved easy and convenient most of the time for commuting was auto rickshaw; rickshaws in Chennai hard nut to crack.

No other city In India have earned more accolades and fame than Chennai as far as Auto rickshaw are concerned, Really they are world famous in India.. hahha… all because of the customer experiences and the unrealistic fares they charge. But my experiences with the auto drivers were different; the most of guys with whom I transacted appeared to be genuine and charging realistic figure, I met some rotten apple as well, but those case should not be taken as a base for forming a perception and treating everyone like that.

It also happened that when we were riding a Rick it was about to get out of fuel and the driver sought our permission to drive towards the fuelling station. As most of the Ricks had LPG written on the front panel I though he will fuel LPG or CNG, but to my surprise he asked the auto to be fuelled for petrol.

Reasons for high fares Bubbled, as to why they are charging more fare as compared to fares in other cities. In most of the metros public transport uses CNG which cost max 35-42 INR/ kg and a vehicle like rickshaw answers 16-18 miles to one kg whereas the petrol cost at least 70 INR to a litre; the calculation is pretty simple they are operating at double to cost of CNG .

I really felt sympathy with those guys; they got defamed without any reason. High cost of living would have really pushed them to corner and they might be facing difficulties in making booth ends meet.

If there is price purchase parity then that has to be compensated by none other than high fares and that’s what they are doing and I personally don’t feel anything wrong in that.

After all taking a ride on an elephant would cost you proportionately. I feel if this condition persist, auto-drivers in Chennai would have a card swiping machine installed facilitating the customers with a swipe and a smile..:)

Image source: aartikrishnakumar.com