What rolls on three wheels and enables the owner to roll in money? No, cannot be an auto, you say. You may believe owning an auto must be a bumpy ride, with so many three-wheelers plying. You also figure that the barrier to entry is low – the Rs 1.5 lakh vehicle can be purchased with just Rs 37,000 down and Rs 3,000 per month. Yet, a simple accounting exercise shows owning an auto can be very profitable.

Assuming an auto runs 100 km a day of fare and 20 km more on empty trips. After paying a salary of Rs 9,000 to a driver, the investment of an auto pays back the down payment in just 9 months and the capital of Rs 1.5 lakh can be earned in just over 3 years.

Note that profits can be even higher if one considers higher minimum and per kilo-metre fare, 25 per cent extra for night hours and lower fuel cost with LPG.

Wait, you say, this is probably profit for the driver - who may not give anything to the owner. If the auto runs on a meter, it is possible to retrieve money from the driver. But yes, if the auto plies on Chennai’s ‘negotiated price’, there is not much hope to see profits, except possibly by switching to the model of receiving a rent of Rs 300 per day and not paying any expenses. You could alternatively wait for Google coming up with a self-driving auto, much like a driverless car.

However, running an auto with meter is a service to the public. Imagine how much time could be saved if we could just board an auto rather than be bored by long negotiations on distance, traffic, petrol price, road condition, personal loans, gold prices and all current events including Thatcher’s death weaved in creatively to justify a huge premium. While the argument may be incredible, the many hours the drivers at the auto stands spend reading the paper, napping and talking current affairs does seem to add monetary value to them. One still wonders why they could not be plying more trips at a more reasonable fare, rather than wait for their priced catch to extract their day’s earning in one go?

With all the theoretical merits of metered service, the public may not quite honour you for running a metered service. Passengers would rather negotiate, as they fear metering may lead to being taken for a ride – a long one at that. This wastes time, besides not saving any money or helping global warming. And who is to say that the meter will not defy laws of physics and count a kilo metre as a mile or a light year? Besides, consumers who don’t feel they are wronged may not be any happier when they get their rights.

Gosh, you say, can’t one do anything about getting autos to run with a meter and be fair? Those who reside in state capitals, called (no, not capitalists) politicians and metro police have auto-nomy to thwart the market forces of supply and demand. They supply capital to buy autos and get cash on demand. Turning a blind eye to the plight of passengers, especially those who are new in town is not just easy, it is also profitable. The fair market for auto fare has been bid fare-well along with the vehicles fourth wheel.

Ok, no money, no glory, no recourse, but you think auto ownership is still a good dinner-party topic. People would surely rush over to gush about this novel investment vehicle. Yes, but only until someone else talks about how Honda amazes, which leaves you in an awe too. You could write about it and an intelligent reader may read it till they realise the author does not own an auto and she is ambivalent about the prospects of metered autos in Chennai.

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