Bangalore, Oct 12 Hundreds of passengers arriving in Bangalore Monday morning in trains and buses were in for a shock as the city's auto rickshaws were on strike and public transport could not cope with the rush, officials said.

Parents who depend on autos to send their tiny tots to play-homes and nursery schools, office-goers and the general public also had a harrowing time looking for alternative transport.

Around 90,000 autos, which over the years have made yellow-black taxis almost extinct in this IT hub, were off the roads for 12 hours from 6 a. m. onwards. They were protesting a government directive to paint the three-wheelers green and black, the installation of digital meters and getting smart cards.

"It costs us up to Rs. 12,000 to repaint the present yellow top, black body to green-black. Similarly switching over to digital meters costs around Rs. 5,000. And every three years we have to renew the smart card and pay Rs. 200," M. Manjunath, president of Adarsha auto drivers union, told reporters.

The smart card is a digitized card recently introduced by the transport department. It will store details of the drivers like age, name, address, vehicle number, driving licence details etc.

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, which runs the city bus service, deployed around 150 additional buses to the 3,000 it normally runs every day to meet the additional demand.

While the additional buses were a boon for office-goers and the general public, there was little respite for those arriving and leaving Bangalore with heavy luggage.

"I did not know about the strike. Transporting our family's heavy luggage in the buses will be difficult. Then there is the problem of lugging it from the bus stand to my place," M. Hunamantha Rao who arrived in Bangalore by bus from Mangalore, around 350 km from here, said.

Stella Pooven Joseph, a bank employee and her neighbours in Hulimavu, about 14 km from the city, shelled out Rs. 350 for a private car to pick and drop their children from a primary school, just a km away.

"We had to. Otherwise working women like us would have to take leave and stay back to look after the children," Stella said.

Taxi operators took advantage of the strike and made a killing. Instead of the normal Rs. 12 per km, they charged double or triple the amount depending on the distance and the quantum of luggage from many stranded train and bus passengers.

K. Vikram, a dentist who arrived around noon in Bangalore from Chennai, said he shelled out Rs. 500 to reach his friend's place in Koramangala, about 10 km from the station. (IANS)