Won’t take Autos, Cabs on August 12

Revenge of the commuters

Tired of being fleeced by auto and taxi drivers, three Mumbai residents call for a one-day strike

Virat A Singh and Aneesh Phadnis

     

Posted On Friday, August 06, 2010 at 04:17:58 AM

Have you ever been refused a ride by an autowallah or a cabbie? Did that leave you fuming? If your answer is ‘yes’ to both these questions, here is your chance to get back at them. Three advertising professionals -- Abhilash Krishnan, Rachna Brar and Jaidev Rupani -- have launched a campaign against greedy cabbies and autowallahs who refuse fares for short distances and tamper with meters to fleece commuters. The centrepiece of this campaign will be the August 12 commuters’ strike, when anyone who has ever been wronged by an auto or a taxi driver must shun them. A web site - www.meterjam.com - has been created to generate awareness about the campaign and to get people to sign up for the strike. The web site, which went up on Monday, has received a good response. "Around 600 people have already signed up to skip auto/taxi rides on August 12," said Rupani. Meter Jam's Facebook page already has 844 'like it' entries and has kicked off a debate, with people demanding such a campaign for other cities too. On twitter, however, Meter Jam has only six followers. Meter Jam's message on Facebook says, "Taxi and auto rickshaw are part of public services. Unfortunately in India, there is no proper control or rule book to facilitate the smooth running of this service. Jaidev Rupani, Rachna Brar and Abhilash Krishnan Taxi and auto meters are manipulated and commuters pay more than what they have to. It's time for public to put across their say in the matter with Meter Jam." Explaining the concept, Rachana Brar, 28, said: "Meter Jam is our response to taxi and auto drivers' dadagiri. They must know that commuters can hit back." Abhilash Krishnan, her colleague, said: "We just don't want to talk about it. This will be our non-cooperation movement." Taximen’s Union chief A L Quadros said, “I will apprise committee members of this campaign. We will have to decide our strategy.”