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A Bengaluru man recently shared a shocking experience he had with auto drivers in the city. He said that the auto drivers forcefully stopped him from using Rapido bike taxis and labelled it as “goon behaviour”. A user who goes by the handle of Karnataka Weather on X mentioned that the drivers abused the Rapido drivers and he had to cancel three bike rides due to the same.
“Goon behaviour of auto drivers at Jalahalli metro station, Bengaluru this evening. As I came out of the metro station, I had booked a bike taxi via @rapidobikeapp. The first ride I got was of an electric bike & when the rider had come to pick me up, the auto drivers started to abuse him & chased him away. Realising that the electric bike taxi was banned in the city, I booked another ride via Rapido & this time I got a Honda bike which is not electric. When he came to pick me up, the auto drivers again forcefully asked him to cancel the ride & didn’t allow me to take the ride,” he wrote on the microblogging platform.
Goon behaviour of auto drivers at Jalahalli metro station, Bengaluru this evening
As I came out of the metro station, I had booked a bike taxi via @rapidobikeapp. The first ride I got was of an electric bike & when the rider had come to pick me up, the auto drivers started to…
— Karnataka Weather (@Bnglrweatherman) March 9, 2024
The user said that he read news articles about the ban on electric bike taxis and then booked another ride. “This time I was ready with my mobile to take pics & videos of the auto goons. But when the rider came & we were about to leave, they had come back, forcefully made me get off the bike & started abusing. I told them only electric bike taxis are banned but not the normal ones. They said don’t talk rules to us & we know better than you. They didn’t allow me to capture the videos & pics,” he added.
He urged the Bengaluru Police to look into the matter. “If all kinds of bike taxis are banned, then please let the operators take down the option of bike bookings in their apps & if it isn’t, please make sure we are not harmed by these auto goons,” the user concluded his post.
Bengaluru Police took note of the same and asked the user to share his contact details.
Meanwhile, several other internet users also shared similar instances.
“This is very much regular in Bangalore Recently, my friends and I also experienced this at first auto guy asked us to cancel cab and said he’ll ride us at same cost so we after reaching upon our destination he charged double amount of ola cab (600) and he abused all of us,” commented a person.
A second added, “This is regular scene at al metro stations! Neither the auto drivers are ready to ride on meter nor they allow ppl to book! Its a very difficult situation but no action is being taken !!”
“Always walk for 500 meters from any station and then book taxi,” suggested a person.
Another person wrote, “It’s not just in Jalahalli. This is happening in the entire city.”