I sometimes find catching a rickshaw a harrowing experience. As a “ferengi” (foreigner) you end up having a much tougher time trying to bargain with drivers (I’ve only caught one where you didn’t have to bargain at all). I’ve learned some lessons like not asking how much it is to get to some place as they’ll normally double or triple their prices. It’s also not a great idea to descend on one or two taxis as a large group. They realise that you all want to get somewhere in one go, and can immediately collude to increase prices.

On the other hand, heading as an individual to a place where there is a group of rickshaws generally means you can at least bargain your way back to a normal price. If someone is asking too much, it’s just a simple matter of going to someone else (of course, this can backfire if they want to collude as well).

Interestingly this casts my mind back to economics back at University. Large supply (lots of rickshaws) and limited demand (just me) will work in my favour of pushing the price down. Large demand (big group of us) and limited supply (two or three of us) result in pushes being pushed up. Price elasticity of demand is represented by how much you want to get somewhere, while price elasticity of supply depends on how much the rickshaw driver really wants their business. Both of these fluctuate as the traffic increases/decreases in the evenings.

As interesting as this is, I’d prefer the approach rickshaws in Bombay operate by simply putting on their meter.