Greedy drivers replace electronic meters with mechanical meters

Greedy drivers replace electronic meters with mechanical meters
Vijay Times

Electronic fare meters may have been made mandatory for newlyregistered autorickshaws. But do you think the drivers care?Commuters continue to be cheated with impunity by auto drivers who replace the electronic meters with second-hand mechanical ones.

While Regional Transport Authority (RTA) officials prefer to stay mum on the issue, Legal Metrology officials say they are helpless as the rules stipulate that they have to stamp fare meters, regardless of whether they are mechanical or electronic.

Speaking to Vijay Times, Somashekar, president of the Bangalore Auto Drivers Union, said though newly-registered autorickshaws come with electronic meters, greedy drivers and owners replace them with second-hand mechanical meters.

"This is because mechanical fare meters can be tampered with easily. The meters are tampered with to fetch 30 to 40 paise more per km than the actual meter reading, which goes unnoticed by commuters and Legal Metrology officials" Somashekar said.

He rued the fact that even with autorickshaw drivers getting a good margin of profit with the fare at Rs 6 per kilometre, this practice was rampant.

RTA officials, when contacted, passed the buck to Legal Metrology officials. "It is the responsibility of Legal Metrology officials to check and stamp autorickshaw fare meters and also to ensure that electronic fare meters are fixed in newly-registered vehicles. We only check whether the auto has the fare meter at the time of issuing a fitness certificate" said an RTA official.

When questioned, Legal Metrology officials clarified that they have no legal power to ensure that newly-registered autorickshaws sport only electronic fare meters. "The guidelines set for the Legal Metrology department by the Central Government say that we have to stamp fare meters after subjecting them to a thorough check," they said.

Thus, in the absence of clear guidelines to ensure that all autorickshaws are fitted with electronic meters, unscrupulous drivers and owners continue to make hay with the aid of tampered mechanical meters.


How easy is it to tamper with mechanical fare meters? Just reduce the number of teeth in the gear wheels which generate the pulse -- thats it! According to Legal Metrology officials, the number of teeth in both the gear wheels, one inside the meter and another near the engine, must be 64 and 20 respectively. But greedy autorickshaw drivers and owners have found the obvious way out.

"If one tooth of a gear wheel is removed, it amounts to an additional 10 paise per rupee. Greedy drivers use gear wheels with 56 or 58, and 18 or 16, teeth. This how they earn more money per rupee than the meter shows" said an Legal Metrology official.

Electronic meters have no gear wheels and work on the pulse generated by an adapter fixed near the engine. However, even these are not fool-proof. "Some intelligent drivers add another adapter near the fare meter by skinning the cable connecting the fare meter," the official said.

The official added that mechanical meters can be tampered with at 15 points, apart from the above-mentioned ones.

According to Somashekar, president of the Bangalore Auto Drivers Union, 20,000 newly registered autorickshaws have been fixed with electronic meters. But in almost all of them, the new meters have been replaced with old mechanical meters which are freely available in the market at prices ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500. Only at the time of obtaining fitness certificates do these autorickshaws sport the electronic meters.