On Day 70 of MiD DAY's Meter Down campaign, passengers continued to have the same complaints of rickshaw drivers refusing to ferry them short distances

Place: Outside Borivli Station
Time: 10.30 am-12 and 6 pm-7.15 pm
Offenders caught:u00a08
Commuters speak:
Swati Bidve, a regular commuter, said, "Most of the auto drivers prefer to ferry passengers who have just alighted from long distance trains as they can then ask them to shell out more money for luggage. Other drivers are smart and only ply those who wish to travel via the Western Express highway. This is all fine and dandy for the auto drivers but it creates a major nuisance for us commuters."
"Every morning we start the day in the most annoying way as rickshaw drivers keep refusing short-distance fares. We have to face refusals from at least 10 drivers before one can find a rickshaw," grumbled Surekha Dey.


Maaf kar do na: Realising his error, an auto driver begs for forgiveness
after a constable catches him for refusing fares at Borivli.
Pics/Mahesh Chafe

Another passenger Laxmikant Chavan, griped, "Even though auto drivers can see that I am old and can't walk properly they refuse to ferry me to my destination. They have completely forgotten common courtesy."

Hareshwar Jadhav said, "I asked a rickshaw driver to ferry me a short distance and he refused saying that he did not know the way. However, barely five minutes later when a passenger asked him for a long-distance on the same route, the driver quickly took the passenger in. Such are the double standards of these errant drivers."

Auto drivers speak:
On being caught for refusing to ply a short-distance passenger, driver Ram Yadav said, "I ply my auto on a shift basis and have to now hand over the vehicle to the next driver."

Narendra Upadhyay, another driver caught turning down a short-distance commuter, said, "I wanted to go to Borivli (West) to pay my water bill. Therefore, I was in search for a fare to the west side."

Another driver Majhar Hussein retorted after being caught for refusing a fare, "Since there was a bus stand nearby, it would be inappropriate to accept fares."

Auto driver Ramdhar Pal said, "I had to rush home for some urgent work and hence refused to ply the passenger." However, realising the auto driver was simply making an excuse to escape being fined, the constable told the driver that if he wanted to rush home he should have rather than asking for other fares.


Jaane bhi do: An errant auto driver tries to negotiate with the constable
to let him go.

Spot of Bother:
When Rajesh Singh, a driver was booked by a constable for refusing to ply, the driver created a scene shouting, "How can you book me when I haven't even spoken to the passenger?"