Is there a better way to commute to the metro? I'm losing my mind

I live about 2.6 km from my nearest metro station, and this first leg of my commute has become the most frustrating part of my day.

Rapido and Uber Auto are extremely unreliable. Some days I get a ride instantly, but many days there are simply no drivers available, so I can't depend on them.

Local shared autos aren't much better. They're hard to find, and even when I do find one, the driver often waits until all 5 seats are filled before leaving. A ride that should take 10 minutes ends up taking 25–30 minutes.

Walking isn't really practical either. It's 2.6 km, and doing that every day in Delhi's heat, especially before work, is exhausting and takes too much time.

The worst part is that I keep getting late for work despite leaving early and trying to plan everything properly. There's always something that goes wrong ya toh no auto available, traffic turning a 10-minute ride into a 30 minute crawl and the worst part, drivers refusing to go.

Has anyone else faced this problem? How did you solve it? Are there any commute options I'm overlooking? I don't own a vehicle at the moment, nor do I plan to for now (out of budget)