The hunt for CNG: How Chennais auto and cab drivers battle daily shortages

Life behind the wheels in Chennai is a story of endless motion. Even as dawn creeps over the city, autorickshaw and cab drivers find themselves out and about. They, as always, arrive, pick us up, and drop us off at our destination, while we retreat into our own worlds. Most of us barely notice them anymore as our ears are plugged with earphones and our eyes fixed on glowing screens. The rides are silent, efficient, and fleeting. Its a stark contrast to the rides of not-so-long ago, when autorickshaws and cabs were little capsules of conversation, filled with chatter about traffic jams, winding routes, rising fuel prices, and even politics. Yet behind every tap and trip, there are stories untold of drivers whose struggles hum just beneath the surface of our quiet, app-booked journeys. Today, adding to the long list of challenges such as the sweltering heat, relentless Chennai rains, traffic, bad roads, immense competition with bike taxis and sheer exhaustion, is a new struggle: the hunt for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Their daily quest across the city in search of a quick refuel, drivers say, is testing both their patience and their fuel tanks. Srinivasan, an autorickshaw driver, says, I was driving an LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) auto until a couple of years ago because petrol wasnt profitable. But then, since CNG vehicles started picking up in Chennai, I sold the LPG vehicle and rented a CNG/petrol (bi-fuel) auto, with the hope that I would earn some extra hundreds every month. Vinod*, another autorickshaw driver in the city, also echoes similar sentiments. I was a lorry driver but the money wasnt enough to sustain myself, let alone my family. With similar hopes as Srinivasan, he used his savings and took out a loan to cover the overhead cost for a CNG/petrol (bi-fuel) autorickshaw. A similar and gradual shift was noticed by AK Abdul Gafoor and Sunil Gavaskar, two cab drivers, who note that today, 50-70% of cabs run on CNG in the city. But long queues at fuel stations, the constant fear of running out of gas, not getting as many rides regularly, and the rising cost of petrol made worse by bi-fuel vehicles that automatically switch from CNG to petrol due to CNG shortage are adding to all drivers woes, Vinod says. Supply and demand They first lament the shortage of CNG pumps at fuel stations, noting that their numbers havent kept pace with the growing demand for CNG in the city. There are only one or two pumps for CNG as against four to eight petrol and diesel pumps, depending on the size of the fuel stations. Those are not enough for the number of vehicles that need the gas in the city today and therefore, there are long queues. Although there are fuel stations exclusively for CNG, they are scarce and at many stations, they dont have pipeline connection and dispense the gas from lorries, rues Sunil, who spends a minimum of 30 minutes to fill gas every day, the longest being three hours. Abdul also recalls waiting in line for up to two hours, only to find, as his turn finally approached, that the station had run out of CNG. With fuel stations constantly overcrowded, both autorickshaw and cab drivers admit to experimenting with different routines filling gas in the dead of night, before dawn, or just past midnight. The irregular hours, they say, have taken a toll on their sleep. Late last year, Srinivasan says, I would go home by 9.30 pm after a long day. I would set an alarm for midnight only to refuel my vehicle. I would come back home and try to sleep again before starting an early day the next morning. As long queues for CNG began spilling onto roads this year especially during peak hours or along narrow main roads and those demarcated for metro construction fuel stations started setting fixed refuelling slots. Some now dispense CNG only after 11 pm, while others open briefly post-noon and close again before 3 pm. Sunil points out how structured and systematic these refuelling slots have become. At a petrol station in Tambaram, you have to get a token three hours prior and it will specify your time slot. We can only go at that time, wait in smaller queues nevertheless, and fill CNG. Due to these new rules, drivers, including him, are now torn between maximising their daily earnings and timing their day around CNG refuelling. Expensive alternatives Since Sunil spends long hours on the job, he is often forced to resort to filling petrol. He usually fills CNG around 4 am and if he accepts long rides, say to Kilambakkam or beyond ECR, or even intercity trips, his CNG will run out by afternoon. At that hour, few fuel stations are open for CNG, and those that are open tend to be crowded. I cant ask my customer to wait in line for hours, he explains, So I end up filling petrol instead, which becomes expensive. On days like those, he says he makes a maximum of `5,000, from which he ends up spending `2,000 on petrol alone. Abdul paints a grimmer picture. On a good day I may make `2,500, from which I spend `700 on CNG, around `200-300 at toll booths and then I am only left with `1,500 a day. I have my own vehicle and so my situation is still okay. Some of my friends are driving CNG vehicles on rent and the rent alone is `1,200 per day. Now imagine how those people must be running their families Beyond household expenses, drivers also spend a considerable amount on vehicle maintenance. Drivers admit that mechanic visits are becoming increasingly expensive since properly maintaining tyre pressure, changing the oil and CNG filters, are all key for a profitable mileage. And with bottleneck traffic, passing vehicles often leave scratches or even dents, furthering drivers expenses. Even in what they spend on fuel, many drivers feel cheated. Most say they pay around D680 to fill their CNG cylinders. While stations are supposed to pump gas at a pressure of about 200 kg/cm needed to properly compress the methane-rich fuel and store in a vehicles tank with enough volume and energy density many in Chennai, they claim, dispense it at only 180 kg/cm. As a result, less CNG gets stored in their tanks, leaving them with less fuel for the same price. Srinivasalu, who has also, in the past, driven LPG auto and is now driving a CNG, believes that petrol autos are more profitable given the circumstances. Setting aside their familial worries, he sums up all drivers situations in one line. When we have a tank full of gas, we dont get rides, and when we get rides, we dont get gas. *Name changed