Day 1 ends in chaos

Auto fare hike creates chaos
Vijay Times

CONFUSION reigned supreme on W ednesday as several commuters entered into heated arguments with auto drivers over revised fares which came into effect on W ednesday .

It may be recalled that while the Regional T ransport Authority (RT A) had initially planned to bring down the minimum distance from 2 km to 1.6 km while retaining the minimum fare at Rs 10, it suddenly changed its mind at the last moment.

Authorities said the minimum fare would now be Rs 12 instead of Rs 10 for a distance of 2 km. The move, th said, would prevent passengers from being cheated by drivers.

However , passengers would now have to pay Rs 6 instead of Rs 5 for every kilome travelled after the minimum distance.

Most of the drivers in the City took advantage of the situation and used the opportunity to fleece passengers. Some commuters, who were unaware about the fare hike, entered into a war of words with the drivers.

Here is what some of the commuters and auto drivers in the City had to say to BVT .

"Most of the commuters in the City are unaware of the hike as many of them are from other states. W e are having a tough time convincing passengers about the hike. Some of the drivers too are unaware about the change in auto fares. U neducated drivers are confused by the move," lamented Chandrashekar , an autorickshaw driver .

"Some people have come to kno w about the new fares through the media and they carry the revised auto fare charts. Hence, they understand the situation and pay accordingly . However , business is lo w today . Some passengers have quarrelled with us for demanding money as per the revised fare chart. They think that we are charging more. Hence, we should reset the meters at the earliest to avoid such situations," Suryanarayan, another autorickshaw driver , said.

"Being a regular commuter , I had no problems understanding the hike. But, there are drivers who try to cheat ignorant people. Some auto drivers have already reset their meters according to the fare hike. However , they behave as though more needs to be paid due to the hike," alleged Indira Sundar , a photographer .

"I was unaware about the hike and I didn’t have a copy of the revised chart. When I got down at the railway station, the meter showed Rs 16. The auto driver demanded Rs 20 and I was about to quarrel with him. After he showed the chart, I was convinced and paid him," said Lakshmi, a home maker .

"The authorities shouldn’t have hiked the fares as many of the auto meters are tampered ones and as it is, we are paying more. The move of the authorities will affect the comman man. The authorities have given auto drivers three months time to reset their meters. During this period, the drivers will cheat gullible commuters as the pre-paid counters have not adopted the changes," opined Prasad, an employee in KPTCL.


Official speak

RTA secretary Shafi Ahmed said, Passengers need not be confused as all the pre-paid auto counters in the City have been updated with the new fares from today .

It will take another week for the public change in fares. Hence, in the interest of the public, the RTA has begun distributing the fare conversion charts to auto drivers, he added.

He advised passengers to ask for the fare chart from drivers before paying the fare for the journey .