Auto Fares Fixed at Rs. 50 Minimum, Rs. 25 for Each Additional km
The transport department has come out with stringent conditions to prevent auto drivers from deceiving people
CHENNAI: The government has revised the auto fare structure for Chennai Metropolitan Area and other regions of the state, fixing the minimum fare at Rs. 50 for the first 1.8 km and an addition of Rs. 25 for each subsequent kilometre.
According to a government order, the waiting charge for autos will be Re. 1 for each minute. Night time travel fare between 10 pm and 5 am will be 1.5 times the regular fare.
For travel involving ghat roads, the auto fare will be 1.2 times the minimum fare and the base fare will be Rs. 60. An additional charge of Rs. 30 will be collected for every additional kilometre travelled on the ghat road.
People can call toll-free No. 1800 425 5430 to complain about the collection of excess charges.
The government order was issued under section 67 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and it directed the State Transport Authority and the Regional Transport Authorities to implement the revised fare structure. The government orders issued in 2013 and 2014 on fixing the auto fare have been cancelled and the new order has come into immediate effect.
A meeting of auto drivers’ unions and consumer organisations was held on July 9 this year, by Transport minister Vijay Thamizhan Parthiban and a committee was formed to revise the fares. The new fares are announced based on the recommendation of the committee.
The auto drivers have been given six months to recalibrate the meters as per the revised fare structure. Some technical changes should be carried out in the auto meters while implementing the new fare system. The auto workers said it would be difficult to change the auto meters as 1 lakh autos are running in Chennai city alone. The government had accepted their demand and provided time up to April 2027 to change the meters.
The transport department has come out with stringent conditions to prevent auto drivers from deceiving people. A notice board with the revised auto fares should be displayed in the vehicle at a place visible to the passengers. The department also instructed the auto drivers to change their meters within the given time. They have also asked the drivers to collect the new fare fixed by the government without any deviation so that people did not come out with complaints.
However, people reacted with pessimism to the revised structure saying that they were already paying more than the prescribed fares since auto drivers do not use the meters to collect the charges. In the suburbs, the auto drivers collect Rs. 100 for just 1.5 km and they fix the rates for each place from the auto stand on the Chennai-Tiruchy highway.
Whenever anyone takes an auto, a tough bargain is made by the drivers who insist on exorbitant rates and most of the drivers do not use meters. With the government itself fixing Rs. 50 as the rate for the first 1.8 km, the auto drivers will demand more than the fixed charges without using the meters. The auto fare fixed by the government only remains on paper and exorbitant rates are collected during heavy rains, festival season or when the demand is high, people said, adding that the fixing of auto fares by the government is a futile exercise unless all the auto drivers are forced to use the meters without any bargaining or fixing of arbitrary fares.
