Indian Methodology Part 2: Autorickshaws

In Soviet Russia, cab hales YOU.

I thought one of the most peculiar things about philly was the fact that cabbies always honk at you if their cabs are empty. In India, apparently it’s easier than that. You can say no to about 25 autorickshaw drivers and be walking away from them and they’ll still pursue you. There are a couple easy tricks I’ve found to dealing with the drivers when you actually need one.

First, to hail a driver one should stand still and look foreign. If you don’t look foreign then you have several easy options. You can walk up to a driver directly. This will start a long negotiation process which you are bound to lose OR hail a cab like normal and hop right in. This will earn you a ride in which the meter is “broken” or “not working” and you will have to negotiate when you disembark.
The price for a ride is somewhere along the lines of 9-10 Rs/km. Chennai is a geographically big place and there are lots of little alleyways and whatever. This means if you don’t pay attention the driver will tell you they’ve gone further than they really have. You really have to know exactly how far you are going. I suggest the following method. First, Speak Tamil to them. This will immediately make your markup only double. I also suggest negotiation BEFORE riding. Tell them where you want to go and ask how much which in Tamil is “yenna vella?” or literally “what cost?” They will tell you some absurd number because you are foreign. If you don’t speak Tamil and they detect this (even if you are Indian) they’ll mark you up 2x or 3x. The Tamils are very proud or their Tamil identity and it shows. Try reading something on Indian poilitics sometime and the political party DMK. The negotiations begin! If you know the cost (calculate it as 9Rs/km as the crow flies) Tell them “ille” which means “no” and then the number you calculated and tell them in Tamil. You are actually asking for something too low. The discrepancy will be staggering, but don’t let this phase you. For example it will sound something like this:

Driver: You need driver?
Foreigner: R.A. Puram
D: Ok I take you. Come.
F: How much?
D: 250
F: No, too much. 30
D: 220
F: 30

There are several excuses they will give you. Bad weather, late hour, too far, etc are the most common. In other big cities (I'm told) rickshaws just drive around with the meter on, but somehow the Chennai drivers have formed a sort of ad hoc union.

As it is, even with good negotiating you’ll probably get a ride for 100Rs when it actually costs 40-50.

If you had started with Tamil the negotiations would have started from 150-200 with the driver.

If the driver isn’t budging on his price, go ahead and walk away and begin negotiating with another driver. Then they will both vie for you dollar.
Once you’ve settled on a price be sure to have that exact amount available in Rupees. Otherwise the driver is likely to simply take whatever you hand him and feign ignorance saying that he gave you a fair price and that you paid. No change.

Early on, my roommate said to me, "This system is not about the fact that it doesn’t cost much money to ride. The point is that if I’m paying 4 Rs and everyone else has to pay 2 Rs I’m upset because this isn’t fair." He’s right too. One thing you’ll notice about India is that non-American things are really cheap. It doesn’t cost much to live here which is why my salary this year is somewhere around $5000 total. The drivers of rickshaws look at you as someone who has dollars. Persons living in the slums can live off less than a dollar a day per family of 4. So don’t worry about not paying 250 Rs for a cab ride even though in the USA that’s still a cheap fare. Pay the correct wage and let them get on with their business. In addition try to realize that negotiation about EVERYTHING is part of the way of life here. Just start with that attitude and you’ll only get ripped off a little bit.