With the loss of income faced by autorickshaw drivers due to the two-month-long COVID-19 lockdown and the subsequent lack of demand, a driver in Coimbatore converted his vehicle into a shop in an attempt to compensate for the loss.
Abdul Samadh, a resident of Ukkadam who has been an autorickshaw driver for over seven years, said that he has converted the rear side of his vehicle into a petty shop complete with cigarettes, beedis, betel nuts and snack items such as murukku and kadala mittai. “It has been nearly 10 days since I converted my autorickshaw this way,” he said. After taking regular trips in the autorickshaws in the mornings, Mr. Samadh would generally park his vehicle on State Bank Road in the evenings and set up his shop in his vehicle.
When the lockdown was in place and autorickshaws were not allowed to ply on the roads, Mr. Samadh said that he sold the items in Ukkadam by carrying it in bag and travelling by foot.
After autorickshaws were allowed to ply from May 23, Mr. Samadh said that he found that the demand for autorickshaws has reduced in the city. “Before lockdown, I used to earn around ₹1,500 per day. But now, I hardly make around ₹500 a day,” he said. Hence, he decided to set the shop in a way that will not inconvenience the passengers.
“If there are not enough trips in the day, I will open the shop even at 2 p.m., but if I get enough trips, I will continue to drive through the whole day,” Mr. Samadh said.
However, this shop is not highly profitable, Mr. Samadh noted, as he only makes around ₹300 by selling the various items a day. Although fellow drivers have been appreciative of this attempt, he claimed that no other driver has attempted to emulate this yet. “There is no use in blaming others. We have to learn to adapt to the present situation,” he said.