Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Tough times for commuters will continue. After the hike in fares for black and yellow taxis and auto rickshaws, the fare of air conditioned fleet cabs in the city is also set to rise from next month.

Fleet cabs fares to go up too, interim hike approved

State body approves hike of around 20%, panel formed to look into final fare formula

 Tough times for commuters will continue. After the hike in fares for black and yellow taxis and auto rickshaws, the fare of air conditioned fleet cabs in the city is also set to rise from next month.
 
FLEET TAXIS IN CITY
  The state transport authority (STA) has approved an interim fare hike by up to 20% for fleet cabs, which is likely to come into effect from November 5, according to sources. Details of the final hike will also be worked out, which will be implemented later.
Depending on the make of the cab, the current minimum fare for fleet cabs ranges from Rs22 to Rs28, and the fare for each subsequent km is between Rs15 to Rs21 (see box for details).
The STA, chaired by acting transport secretary Sumit Malik has also decided to form a committee to look into the various issues pertaining to the fare hike in fleet cabs
Though transport commissioner VN More, also an STA member, confirmed that the fare hike had been approved, he refused to disclose any more details and said: “Let the minutes of the meeting be approved.”
At present, there are more than 5,000 AC radio cabs in the city, run by five companies – Meru, Mega cabs, Easy cabs, Aarya and Tab cabs.
A highly placed source said that there were conflicting opinions about which formula to adopt for the fare hike.
While some members were in favour of adopting the stateappointed Hakim panel’s formula, used for black and yellow taxis and autos, a few were of the view that it would not be applicable to fleet cabs. The STA has thus decided to appoint a committee to look into issues regarding fare hikes.
While sources said the committee will submit the report within two months , Malik was unavailable for comment. Till the report is finalised, the interim hike will be in place.
The previous hike for fleet cabs was implemented in September 2010.
The Association of Radio Cab Operators (ARCO) has demanded a hike in fleet taxi fares by Rs7 per km after the minimum distance.
They have also asked for the minimum distance for fleet cabs to be raised to 5km (from the current 1.6km) if they were booked through the call centre or website, apart from a revision in waiting charges.

NUMBER OF VEHICLES WITH RECALIBRATED METERS, AS OF MONDAY, OCTOBER 29

TARDEO RTO
3,291 taxis (267 on Monday)
WADALA RTO
6,013 autos (244 on Monday) 864 taxis (72 on Monday)
ANDHERI RTO
4,828 autos (313 on Monday) 422 taxis (64 on Monday)


CURRENT FLEET CAB FARES




FARE HIKE FRENZY

Transport authorities
claim to have distributed more than 1.5 lakh cards since the fare hike came into effect on Oct 11, 2012. unions,
Distributed through
the new tariff cards are valid till November 24, 2012 — the deadline given to autos and taxis to have recalibrated meters fitted
For not
holding or displaying valid tariff cards, taxi and auto drivers are charged a penalty of Rs 600.
AT PRESENT,
there are more than 5,000 air-conditioned radio cabs in the city, run by five companies. The last fare hike was approved in September 2010
THE STATE
transport authority has approved an interim hike of around 20% in fleet cab fares, and a committee has been set up to look into details for the final hike

No comments:

Post a Comment


Popular Posts

Total Pageviews

Categories

Blog Archive