Evidence of Free Riding

In Economics, the term “Free Rider” refers to a situation when an individual “consumes more than their fair share of a public resource” (from Wikipedia).

I’ve found repeated evidence of Free Riding in Thanjavur:

These pictures are taken by me in the back seat of two different auto rickshaw that took me to the office at two different days. However, the differences have some similarities. Afterthe usual negotiation over the rate with the driver, I jumped into the auto-rickshaw (which was empty – just the driver and me), and then he starts driving, but makes a phone call, and suddenly he turns back and I see someone running towards us, and jumps into the rickshaw – in the front seat.

I don’t really know what economic inefficiencies this causes, but these people, ladies and gentlemen, are free riders…