In Bangalore, autorickshaw drivers never take a ride by the meter

        I have been in Bangalore for years, and I have not seen any auto driver accepting a ride by the meter. They have excuses to not obey the meter and always charge double, one and a half times of the meter or fifty rupees more. There are mainly three main excuses.

1. Between 10 PM and 6 AM, the reason is the night charges, which are double, saying that it's Government rule.
2. Between 9 AM and 1 PM or between 5 PM and 9 PM, they take more because of the heavy traffic.
3. Between 6 AM and 9 AM, between 1 PM and 5 PM or between 9 PM and 10 PM, they demand more saying that they have to come back empty.

        For point 1: The night charges are applicable from 10 PM to 5 AM, not 6 AM; also the night charges are 1.5x, not double.

        For point 2: Heavy traffic is a satisfactory justification, but they exploit it to extract out money from the customer's pocket, due to customer's critical obligation to reach on time.

        For point 3: This one is the shallowest and is not acceptable no matter what. These are the only time when the above two convincing excuses, night charges and the traffic, don't apply. "Coming back empty" is what they could come up with for these timings? Coming back empty, seriously? Bangalore is so abundant of human beings even at night. Every hour of the day in every corner of the city, we can find people trying to stop running auto rickshaws all the time. How can they go back empty?

        I have encountered many more excuses but could not recall momentarily.

        Please let me know in comments if you have encountered any other excuse or if you met any driver who agreed to take you by the meter.