Mumbai, August 02: Harried passengers arriving at Santacruz airport and then haggling over prices with rickshawallahs, will have to wait till next week for pre-paid rickshaws. While the Regional Transport Office (RTO) has submitted the rate card to Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the latter needs a week more to decide.
“While the RTO has submitted the rate card for prepaid rickshaws, slabs have been demarcated. The rates will be according to these slabs, but the list of destinations coming under the slabs is not clear yet. It will be done by next week,” said a spokesperson from MIAL. “We have to provide facilities like parking area for rickshaws and counters for passengers to take their vouchers too,” the spokesperson added.
According to RTO’s rate card, rickshaw drivers and passengers will both benefit from the rates, inclusive of incentives. Commenting on the principle of including incentives in the rate card, Vikas Pandkar, regional transport officer said, “The rickshaw driver will get more incentive for shorter distances, which will diminish as distances increase.”
Commenting on the need for incentives, Pandkar said, “To compensate for rickshaw drivers waiting in queues for their turn to take a passenger, incentives will be given to them. Passengers can be rest assured that they will be giving a fixed amount to the driver, without being extorted or robbed at night. Also, the driver has to obtain the signature of passengers to ensure that they are safely dropped,” said Pandkar.
Meanwhile, the RTO has also decided to conduct a survey to include more destinations on its list of pre-paid cabs and cool cabs. “The survey was conducted in 2001. So a fresh survey will be conducted and submitted in 4-5 days. We will include farthest destinations like Kalyan, Dombivili and Thane as MMRDA has expanded to Thane now, and part of Raigad, upto Alibaug and Virar,” said Pandkar.
While the rates for metered taxis were hiked by Re1 per km due to a hike in CNG gas, the same will be reflected in prepaid taxis and cool cabs from next week.
–Agencies