Authorities in a fix over meter muddle

Authorities in a fix over meter muddle
The Times of India

Bangalore: The Road Transport Authority (RTA) is in a quandary over the 20 per cent hike in autorickshaw fares from March 15.

After receiving a letter from a TOI reader, the RTA is considering revising the minimum fare or devising a mechanism to prevent auto drivers from taking the commuters for a ride.

According to Gopal Srinivasan of Jayanagar, the RTA has given auto drivers three months time to recalibrate their meters and has told commuters to pay 20 per cent over the meter fare till then. But how does a commuter know whether the meter is recalibrated or not, asked Srinivasan.

All this while, whenever fares would go up, the minimum rate would also increase and it was easy to determine if a meter was running as per the old fare or the new one. However, this time round, the minimum fare will stay at Rs 10 while the minimum distance will reduce from 2 km to 1.6 km. Since most autos still use analogue meters (which can be easily rigged), that do not display the distance, how does a commuter figure out if the meter is recalibrated or not?

The RTA seems to have ignored the possibility that autos running with recalibrated meters would pretend otherwise and fleece commuters by charging 20 per cent extra fare for three months. Reacting to this, RTA secretary Syed Shafi Ahmed said: “A solution is expected before March 15. We will either have to increase the minimum fare to Rs 12 or work out a different mechanism,’’ he added.