IIn a city with a failing bus transport system, the gap is filled by the three-wheeled, rear-engine, rather unstable carriage, called the "autorickshaw". There is a fixed tariff, but it is not adhered to for various reasons, ranging from poor welfare measures for drivers in place to periodic hikes in fuel prices without a proper mechanism to calibrate fares.
You cannot miss these transport vehicles, which are painted a bright yellow, and are unimaginably noisy because the owners have ripped open their silencers to make them audible over several hundred metres.
Autos run on permits issued by the Transport Department of the State Government and can legally carry three passengers. Many of them carry more, and in one instance, nine persons travelling by a single autorickshaw died when they were rammed by a bus. Similarly, for school runs, the autorickshaws carry as many as 20 children and their bags and lunch boxes.
While the older versions of the vehicle had low power engines delivering poor torque, the modern ones can do anything upto 85 kmph and as a three wheeler with poorly trained drivers, accidents involving autorickshaws are common. There is no training school for those who enter transport service as autorickshaw drivers.
Officially, Chennai has about 40,000 autorickshaws, while another 10,000 or 15,000 run without proper papers, including permits. Drivers are often self-taught, have little or no education. Powerful autorickshaw Unions campaign for higher tariffs but have no viable welfare scheme for the members.
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