Chennai Autos - Fares , Drivers and Life
The other day I was traveling in an auto from Vasanth Apartments, velachery to Sathyam Cinemas. After much bargain.. the driver and me agreed for Rs.110 (still i dont know if thats too high). 
Soon I was speaking to the driver and asked him what’s the reason behind “no-metered-charges” and why the fare is high in chennai? He responded saying the main problem starts with Fuel costs. A litre of petrol along with 40ml of oil costs Rs.60 to them. And for one liter of petrol the auto gives approximately 25 to 30 kms max.
So normally a to-and-fro from velachery to anywhere in mount road consumes almost one liter of fuel. Usually the return trips are empty, and only 30% of the return trips are fortunate enough to be filled with passengers. So naturally the drivers tend to collect the charges for the return trip also. So if you travel 5kms.. they charge you for 10kms to compensate empty returns.
He also told that the minimum fare per km set by the govt (i guess it is Rs.7.50 per km) was ~4 years old and the fuel costs have doubled in the mean time. He said, drivers are ready to switch-on the digital meters if the govt revises the per-km charges. When I asked about fitting gas-fuel kits, he said that drivers would be happy to do that coz it is cheap, generates more revenue, but still they are very concerned about safety norms. That’s why they still prefer fossil-fuel. (A good education / awareness campaign should solve this issue.)
Also he told me that trips/day are not good in numbers.. ranging from 1 to 6 trips (max) per day. This is due to 1000s of autos running in chennai.. leading to more-autos vs less-passengers situation. So managing the fuel costs + daily rental (Rs.150 for one auto) takes the golden share leaving just 30% of the revenue as profit. With that 30% he has to manage his family and daily life.
From his point of view.. his words makes some sense. From a LIG (lower income group) passenger’s point of view.. to cross 10 KMS… paying Rs.100 is highly expensive. Because, for that fare, he can travel ~200kms in a bus or train. 
I think switching to automotive-lpg is one good way to bring smile on both faces. And it is up to our govt to take that initiative.
Btw.. let us share the generic auto fares demanded by auto drivers in chennai. This will be helpful to all 
From what I know the following are the appx fare (after bargain)..
1. Velachery to Chennai Central - Rs.150-Rs.160
2. Velachery to Sathyam - Rs.110-Rs.120
3. Guindy Kathipara Jn to Velachery - Rs.60
4. Chennai Central - Velachery - Rs.125 (Prepaid)
over to you guys..