manoj

PRE-PAID TAXIS and autorickshaws will soon be available at major railway termini in the city.

Approving the installation, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has asked the local taxi unions, railway administration and traffic police to draw up plans. Operation of pre-paid cabs have also been approved for the domestic airport.

According to the decision — taken at a recent RTA meeting — prepaid taxi and autos will be available outside Dadar station, Mumbai CST, Kurla Terminus and Bandra Terminus. The fares will be based on a pre-decided fare structure per km. A service charge of Rs 10 will be levied by the booth operator per taxi or auto.

A senior RTO official, requesting anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said the basic reason was to offer passengers more choice as there had been increasing number of cases of passengers being cheated by taxi and auto drivers.” He added: “This creates a bad impression about the city. Pre-paid fare cards based on per km distance will help ward off the problem.” These cards would be made available at pre-booths and parking lots to be set up by the railways and the airport management.

“Though the decision has been taken, these stations are so crowded that we will first have to find place to install infrastructure. The RTO officials, traffic police, railway administration and local taxi and auto unions will hold a meeting on this issues,” another senior official said.

The airport and local authorities have also been asked to set up infrastructure for the scheme. Those who do not want to avail of prepaid cabs or autos will be allowed to form separate queues.

Pre-paid tariff cards are being used at one place in the airport since the 80s and the fare structure is on an average Rs 15 per km.


Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (Mumbai Edition)
Date Of Publish: 03-Apr-07

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