Monday, February 27, 2006

Delhi Traffic

The best way to get around this town is definitely by scooter or motorcycle. Marisa and I have been shuttled around on the backs of motorcycles by our friends here. And on Friday, Aju, a reporter at the Indian Express let me loose on his scooter, giving me my first taste of navigating the madness of Delhi traffic.


Most of the time we must take auto rickshaws, here just called autos.
They have regular rickshaws too, the kind that are drawn by a man on bicycle, but those are only for small journeys and the city is quite large.





By and large, the auto drivers are out to screw you for the fare. They try to screw locals on every ride so you can imagine their delight when they see us coming. A few days ago a driver tried to hit us for ten times the real fare. All of the autos have meters but very few of the drivers will agree to use it. So most of the time you must negotiate. Which would be fine if the drivers would take a reasonable rate, but most would rather lose the fare entirely than miss an opportunity to screw you. I don't quite get it.

At this point, I know the price of most fares around the city, but sometimes it still takes me talking to five or six autos before one will agree to take me for a reasonable rate or the meter.

4 comments:

Crizzie Criz! said...

Neil, i had warned you about the autos, didnt i? anyways, at the rate you are learning hindi, pretty soon, these buggers are not gonna fleece any more money outta you. take my word for that. and thanks for mentioning me in the blog entry too, hehe

Anonymous said...

I like this story but spelling is important, and you've spelled "fare" as "fair" throughout! It detracts from the otherwise good writing.

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