BENGALURU: The window to recalibrate meters of autorickshaws plying in the city ends this Monday, but only around 20,000 drivers have got it done so far.
The city has around 1.3 lakh autos. In December 2021, the revised auto fares came into effect and the transport department gave time till February 2022 to recalibrate meters. However, saying there are just a few licensed service providers to recalibrate meters, many drivers demanded that the government extend the deadline by three months.
“A majority of auto drivers in the city are yet to calibrate meters, so we had proposed to the transport department to extend the deadline by two months. They are yet to issue a notification,” said a senior legal metrology official. He said an auto driver will have to pay Rs 600 for meter recalibration — Rs 150 as government fee and Rs 450 to meter manufacturers/dealers.
On November 6, 2021, the state transport authority decided to increase the minimum fare from Rs 25 (for the first 1.9km) to Rs 30 (for 2km). For every additional km, it went up from Rs 13 to Rs 15. This is the first revision of auto fares since 2013. C Sampath, general secretary of Adarsh Auto Drivers’ Union, said, “We have sought a three-month extension of the deadline. All drivers will follow the government-fixed meter fares once recalibration work is completed.”
Transport officials said they are yet to take a decision on extending the deadline. “But autos should renew their fitness certificate (FC) once in every two years. We will not issue FC without calibrated meters,” an official said.
Enforcement issues
Bengaluru traffic police statistics show that cases booked for refusal to ply reduced from 27,344 in 2019 to 11,623 in 2020 and 363 in 2021. Cases booked for demanding excess fare dipped from 23,002 in 2019 to 11,808 in 2020 and 644 in 2021.
This is said to be mainly because of poor enforcement of rules. But traffic police officials said they are taking action based on complaints received on helpline numbers (080-22868550/ 22868444).
Meanwhile, many passengers said a majority of drivers do not follow the fixed fares. “They are not ready to ply on meter citing faulty meter. And most of them do not keep a chart with the new fares. This is causing confusion and arguments between passengers and drivers,” said Ravikumar S, a Jayanagar resident.
Another passenger said the unofficial minimum charge of autos is Rs 100. “If I ask them to turn the meter on, drivers laugh at me. If they are not ready to follow the rules, why are they opposing bike-taxis? Fleecing has increased after the fare hike and in the absence of recalibrated meters. But there has been no enforcement despite complaints,” said Lakshmi Srinivas, a commuter in Indira Nagar.
