Chandigarh auto fare unchanged since 2013, no revision in taxi rates post-2015

Tribune News Service

Amarjot Kaur

Chandigarh, January 21

The State Transport Authority (STA) of the City Beautiful has not revised the auto fare since 2013 and taxi rates since 2015. In the absence of revised rates, people using public transport, especially auto-rickshaws and taxis, are put at the risk of being fleeced.

Will soon decide on matter: Adviser

I will soon discuss the matter with the Secretary, STA. I think the solution lies in fixing competitive rates, after comparing the fare charged by Uber and Ola. The common person should not be overcharged and people running transport services must benefit too. We’ll soon decide on the matter. Dharam Pal, UT adviser

An auto ride from the city railway station to central sectors like 17 and 22 can vary between Rs100 and Rs150. Those blessed with exceptional haggling skills stand a chance of getting to these sectors at Rs80 for a one-way trip. So, who decides the rate? A coterie of auto-rickshaw drivers in that particular area.

The scenario is no different when it comes to taxis. For rides booked on mobile applications of Uber or Ola, passengers have to pay a price fixed by the company operating these cabs. Unfortunately, one's bargaining skills won't come in handy when it comes to taxi fares. A taxi ride from the city's railway station to the central sectors varies between Rs160 and Rs200.

In May 2013, the UT Administration had issued a notification fixing the rates for air-conditioned taxi, non-air conditioned taxi, radio autos and ordinary autos. The fare of radio auto was fixed at Rs15 for first kilometre and Rs10 per km for subsequent journey. The fare of ordinary auto was fixed at Rs14 for first kilometre and Rs7 per km for subsequent journey, along with Rs10 as waiting charges. The night charges of both, ordinary and radio autos, was pegged at 25 per cent of the fare between 11 pm and 5 am. By these rates, the ride in an ordinary auto from the railway station to Sector 17, for instance, should cost Rs75 for a distance of 7.2 km.

In April 2015, another notification was issued by the Administration. In this notification, the UT fixed the rates only for taxis, excluding the auto rickshaws entirely. A total of 10 rates were fixed for taxis depending on the type of the vehicle. For an ordinary cab (Indica, Ford, Ambassador, Maruti Swift, Maruti Dzire and i20), the rate was fixed at Rs9 per km. However, a ride in high-end cars like Audi 7 series and S-Class Mercedes Benz has been fixed at Rs75 per km. By these rates, the cost of travelling the 7-km stretch between the railway station and Sector 17 should range between Rs63 and Rs525.

When contacted, UT Adviser Dharam Pal said, "I will soon discuss the matter with the Secretary, STA. I think the solution lies in fixing competitive rates, after comparing the fare charged by Uber and Ola. The common person should not be overcharged and people running transport services must benefit too. We'll soon decide on the matter."

Meanwhile, auto drivers are harrowed over rising prices of petrol and CNG.

An auto driver at the railway station, Bhupinder Shukla, said, “Even the rates displayed at the prepaid auto booth have not been updated. The fare from the railway station till Sector 17 is fixed at Rs70 on the rate list at the booth, but we charge about Rs100. With prices of CNG and LPG going up, how do you expect us to run autos at the given fare.”

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