Five years after it was first announced by the then Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK government, the Transport Department has started to roll out the GPS-fitted autorickshaw meters in the city. The equipment has been installed on 20 autorickshaws, and a control room has also been set up to monitor these autorickshaws.
In August 2013, the government announced that all autorickshaws plying in Chennai would be fixed with electronic digital fare meters combined with printer and Global Positioning System (GPS) for the purpose of tracking the vehicles.
A committee comprising officials of the Transport Department, ELCOT (Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu), the Finance Department and the traffic police was constituted to look into the feasibility of installing GPS meters on autorickshaws.
In 2016, on behalf of the Transport Department, ELCOT called for tenders. However, there was some delay in procurement. As of now 20 autos, fitted with these meters, are plying in the Mylapore locality. “We are getting feedback from the drivers and passengers about the equipment so that we can make necessary changes. An additional 2,500 meters have been procured for the pilot project,” said a Transport Department official.
The meter has a panic button, a screen that displays the trip start and end, and a printer. “Upon getting into the vehicle, the passenger should ask the driver to start the trip. At the end of the journey, a printout of the bill will be provided to the passenger,” added the official.
A control room has been set up in the RTO office on New Avadi Road. “When the GPS is on, the colour of the roof of the autorickshaw appears on the screen in violet and when it is switched off, it appears in black. When the panic button is pressed, the colour changes to red,” explained an official.
The Transport Department will be co-ordinating with the city police too. “When the passenger presses the panic button, an alarm will go off in the control room and the nearest patrol vehicle will be directed to the location of the autorickshaw,” added the official.
Positive response
A. Lazar, an autorickshaw driver driving a vehicle fitted with the meter, said that he is sure that the equipment will help win the trust of the passenger. “The haggling with the passenger will stop as the equipment will provide the exact fare and a printout. This is bound to improve our revenue that we are losing to taxi aggregators over the excess fare issue,” he said.
Commuters said that they would opt for autorickshaws if the fares are reasonable. “Now the drivers charge even ₹200 for a few kilometres,” said S. Sukumar, a resident of Tambaram.
