Gobinath, a resident of Villupuram in Tamil Nadu, came to the city to attend a colleague’s marriage on Sunday.
At the bustling Police Control Room, he tried to hire an auto-rickshaw, but ended up arguing with the driver who demanded exorbitant fare for a short distance ride in the absence of a meter.
Though the city is witnessing a lot of development after announcement of the new capital, certain key issues pertaining to the visitors’ local travel has been left unattended to.
Lack of proper auto-rickshaw fare chart and meters in the vehicles are forcing commuters to pay through their nose. Use of digital meters is an alien concept in the city.
For a 3.4-km distance from the Police Control Room to Balaji Nagar in Krishna Lanka, Mr. Gobinath had to pay Rs. 90, which was more than what a cab would have charged.
“I expected a transparent system to be in place, but the meter in the auto-rickshaw was a dummy one and the driver was reluctant to turn it on when I demanded,” said Mr. Gobinath.
This is not the first time a visitor to the city has complained about lack of meters in the auto-rickshaw.
“They bring auto-rickshaws equipped with meters for inspections and renewals, but whether they use it or not is now known. There is no exercise to oversee the implementation of the meter system in the city,” said a Transport Department official. There are nearly 8,600 auto-rickshaws operating in the city. As per the last revised fare chart, the minimum fare is Rs. 20 (up to 1.6 km). For every single km after that, an additional Rs. 11 is charged.
The fare chart is implemented at the pre-paid auto-rickshaw service run by the police at the railway station and bus station. And still meters are not used.
An app-aggregated cab charges Rs. 40 initially and Rs. 6 per extra km, besides Rs. 2 per minute ride time charges.
“Auto-rickshaw drivers here do not follow the fixed fare or the meters, and almost charge double the actual fare. And they follow the unofficial fare chart set by the unions,” rued L. Anjaneyulu, a commuter at ITI Road.
