Delhi, Mumbai see steep hike in auto, taxi fares

Delhi's commuters were left gasping for breath today, as taxi and auto-rickshaw fares were hiked by a steep 35 per cent in the wake of the recent government-mandated increase in compressed natural gas prices.

Announcing this, Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said the decision had been taken in view of the increase in CNG prices as also the rise in the maintenance costs of the vehicles.

He said the government has also made it mandatory now for auto-rickshaws to install the Global Positioning System (GPS) within six months. Besides, a call centre facility will be created to provide the services of auto-rickshaws over telephone. He also announced that the Government had decided to soon launch a new non-AC taxi service in which the fare would be a flat Rs10 per km. This service would be on the lines of the existing air-conditioned radio taxi service.

The minister said the starting fare for auto-rickshaws now would be increased from the present Rs10 for the first kilometre to Rs19 for the first 2km. For every subsequent kilometre, the passengers will have to pay Rs6.50 as against Rs4.50 so far.

Similarly for the yellow-and-black taxis, the fare has gone up from Rs15 for the first kilometre to Rs20. For every subsequent kilometre the charge now would be Rs11 instead of Rs8.50 so far. The new fares come into effect from today.

As for the radio taxis, which charge a flat fare of Rs15 per km, the minister said no decision has been taken yet.