BENGALURU: With bus fares hiked by 15 per cent, autorickshaw drivers who had been pressing the transport department to revise fares, have already started demanding more money from passengers. As the bus fare hike came into effect from Saturday midnight, commuters on Sunday complained that autos are overcharging.
“Many autos operating in the city are not going by the metre and people are struggling to find autos. With the bus fare hike, this has come as another big blow. We get autos, only if we agree to pay whatever the drivers demand,” complained a regular auto user.
Voicing out their struggles, Prashanth, an auto driver said, “While the auto fares have remained the same, operational costs have increased year after year. Auto fares were revised in 2023 in Shivamogga, Mangaluru and Udupi, but Bengaluru, which has a much higher cost of living has not increased the fares. How are we supposed to operate our autos with the existing fares? Government must revise the fares soon.”
Meanwhile, auto unions like Autorickshaw Driver’s Union (ARDU), Adarsh Auto and Taxi Drivers’ Union and others have been urging the transport department to revise auto fares.
General Secretary of ARDU, Rudra Murthy agreeing that autos are demanding more money post the bus fare hike, said “Autos are struggling to operate under the current fare. We have been repeatedly requesting the government to revise the fare and make it an annual exercise. If this is done, a majority of the autos will be more than willing to go by the metre.”
The minimum metre fare should be revised from the existing Rs 30 per km to Rs 40 for the first two kilometres. Every subsequent kilometre should be revised from Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kilometre, he said. Officials from the transport department said that a meeting called on fare revision in December has been postponed and a call will be taken soon.