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Rowdyauto.in: Vent bad auto experiences online
July 01, 2014• By Gayatri Nair

Getting involved in a perilous altercation with an unruly auto driver, and having to cough up triple the rate of the stipulated amount to travel from office to home, made two friends and IIT Kharagpur graduates, come together to create Rowdyauto.in. The portal, one of its kinds, empowers Bangaloreans, often at the mercy of unscrupulous auto drivers, to rant or rave about their auto travelling experiences.
The concept hinges on a three-point mantra; search, review, decide. Commuters can type in the license plate number of a particular auto driver to see if a review has been written about them. Visitors can also write a review about a particular auto driver, and finally be empowered to make an informed decision.
Saswata Banerjee, along with his friend Soumajit Bhowmik, both serial entrepreneurs, started the portal on the philosophy of “crowd sourcing.” In other words, the model runs on people’s articulation of their experiences with the auto drivers. The good, the bad, and the ugly everything can be captured.
Speaking about the initiative, Soumajit Bhowmik, one of the founders says, “One day an auto rammed into my car, and soon he was out of his auto brandishing a rod at me, trying to extort money. He kept claiming that I had damaged his vehicle, but in reality my car had a huge dent because of him. Soon enough the matter was diffused by the traffic police, but I was unhappy that the auto driver was let off so easily.” He realized that forcing the drivers to pay a fine or having complaints registered against them are not strong enough deterrents. The need of the hour was a strong community style policing. Thus, Rowdyauto.in was born.
The website is a fight against the perceived increase of reports of harassment by auto drivers, over charging, and disorderly behavior. The need for such an initiative is exemplified by the fact that within two weeks, the website registers 1,800 unique visitors every day. It has 185 reviews already. The duo, in an attempt to weed out spams, personally verifies the authenticity of each complaint by calling up the complainants. Incidentally, out of 185 reviews, only 15 were positive ones.
“Our main aim is to segregate auto drivers between good and bad, and if our model is successful, then the bad ones might even be driven out of business,” says Saswata. Over a period of time, the portal intends to have a database of almost all the auto drivers plying in the city. Embedded within the model, is a rewards system for the deserving auto drivers.
“We will provide incentives to drivers doing good work, like helping them get loans with low interest rates, among others,” explains Bhowmik.
The duo’s future plans involve tying up with Bangalore Traffic Police, and to create a stronger database. “We will also include a lost and found section. If a commuter loses his mobile phone in an auto, and he has the number of the auto, with the help of the portal, he can get in touch with the driver,” says the Domlur resident.
The duo also plans to extend their services to other parts of the country soon.