Auto meter analysis:)

This is one blog that I have been wishing to write since eternity.
Anyways here goes, this post is basically a tiny little analysis based on my experience with the auto and the auto meters.
This basically is for everyone who travels by the auto and feels that why is it that they dont get the same fare for any two autos when the start and end place remains same.
There can be various theories trying to explain the above problem or the above inconsistency of the auto.
Could be that the auto driver too a difrent route, and if there is just one route then there could be heat, pressure, density ( I somehow feel I am just giving the class 9th physics syllabus for first term).
Well in this blog we not try to prick any of those theories and give out a very difficult einstienish theory of auto travel but certain simple observations tied up with each other.
Well to start of with i would like to give a disclaimer thats I am not an authority and its been only some 1.5 years since am travelling in autos and these are just my observatiosn.
So, first of all lets define the problem.
The problem with the varying fare that we get is that eithere the meter is tied up with the axle of some other auto which is running at a much faster speed or the meter is at fault.
Now coming to the pint how does the meter works.
Well the meter works by counting the RPMs and for a certain number of Revolutions it makes it charges 50 paisa(am still not sure how many revolutions).
So if someone has to do some nasty thing with the meter all they have to do is decrese the number of RPM for each 50paisa charge (and that is done by the small wire hanging right below the meter which connects the meter with the axle, I have seen autowals fondling with it, once I tell them there meter is fast).
Now coming to the type of meters
Basically there are three kinds of

• Standard meters
• Super meters
• Perfect meters

Apart from these there are some other genre of meters like paras etc.

A close to 70% of the autorikshaw are non digital meters (This is based on the times I have come across a digital and non digital meters and in this analysis am taking an assumption that the probability of getting an auto from BTM water tank is random and not biased in any way).

Out of these 70%, some 60-65% are standard meters and the rest are super meters.Rest of the 35-40% of meters are super meters and if not super they generally have the name of teh meter comapny scrapped off it.

Prefect meters are generally digitall meters and the probability of fudging with them is very low but that does not means that they cannot be doctored (read this for details http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/21/stories/2007022121760300.htm). We will take up the digital meters a little later, lets now focus on the non digital meters.

The standard meter is generally a worn off meters with lines of time all over it. they Genrally remind me of e reall old lady waitng for her death.

but no matter how much old they might be the auto driver will never to fail to swear by their authenticity.

Anyways, coming back to the topic these meters generally work fine till 2km (which is the minimum fare) then out of the sudden their whole mechanism work on some underworld don principle "Grab as much money, with as less effort as possible". So these meters by the end of the third Km go off by some 2 rupees (which seem a very small amount when written in a blog),but it does not ends there coz the meter keeps on increasing its fudginess with the distance.The discrapancy in the fare is directly propotion to the distance you travel, so the more you travel the more you get robbed. The discrapancy can range from Rs. 5-15 ona travel of some 6.5-7 km (dats the disctance I travel twice a day).

Coming to the second breed of meters.They are the super meters, well the way they run during the waiting time will make superman look slow. They would be fine till 3-4km but once you see red light just get out of the auto coz they just go crazy seeing a red light, and the auto walas slow down seeing a red light gng from green to yellow. As for the kilometerwise problem they are little behind the standard meters as the discrapancy ranges from Rs. 5-8 in these autos, though I have seen some meters go upto 20 buck, but that was on higher distance.

Then comes the perfect meters, more often then not they are correct, well almost.

They might have problem of a few bucks but other then that I dont see much of a problem in them and above all when u see one of these they look so promising due to their digital attire. But that doesn't mean that they cannot be doctored. Its very much possible that even they can have problem, but then again they are simple auto meters, not some nuclear missile luanching timer.

The other meters like paras are generally digital meters and like perfect meters they are often correct (or as the auto driver would say "correctaaaaaaa, madam"). I would give more marks to paras then perfect, 'coz almost 98% of times a paras meter has been correct.

Well the best way to combat all these problem is to mark points and the correct fare (generally the lowest you have come across during your travelling experience 'coz I have not seen a slow meter in these one and a half year) at those points, so that you know when the meter reading is going hay wire.This is for the people who take the same route everyday.

As for the lucky ones, who have to deal with sweetest of these creatures named the autowallas and there coveted meters only once in a blue moon or even less (may be in a red moon) then that, they can follow this:

• after crossing the 2 km boundary try out the dialogue" bhaiyya meter fast hai".
• the autowala would say "By how much (he is testing one by asking this).
• Dont fret, just give some arbit figure (say some 4-5 bucks) and if that right (which would be the case in most of the cases)he will shutup if not he will argue back, then u can take a call whether to continue or change auto.

That's my modus operandi ( and I think for many others in Bangalore) :),

Post script: Few more thoughts from few of the great thinkers of the group :D

But I guess these superheros are the so lucky that they fly or cling to some building or something like that.

I mean travelling is so simple for them, no extra charge, no one and a halfa. Best is superman he can fly wherever he want and he doesnt even has to wait for his onsite turn or anything to see other countries. He can do that all by himself. I fell spiderman is a loss here coz for him to operate he needs to have some realll good skyscrapers and all that so he can only operate in new york or tokyo or some place like that and not in places like Bangalore or Delhi, as the buildings are quite short in the height department, and they are much more spaced as compared to New york n all. So spidy can't travel much in places like delhi or Bangalore.

Imagine spidy going out on a missin in Chandni chowk.Man, its gonna be one messy mission with the fear of getting stuck in parathe wali gali's tents or chauwdi bazars stalls. Then after some time will find there is nothing but a stalls. Poor spidy the mission will fail before its start.

Anyways thats enough for the day.