50,000 more autos, taxis soon?

MUMBAI : Expect brand new autorickshaws and taxis to hit Mumbai roads soon . The state transport department is considering reviving dead permits and introducing close to 50,000 new autos and taxis . On the flip side, several commuters have boycotted autos and taxis and switched to BEST buses or even walking . BEST officials said their daily passenger numbers have grown by 1.3 lakh , or 3.25%, after the fare hike last Thursday .

But transport officials said citizens will eventually return to autos and taxis . "There is a huge demand-supply gap and we want to reduce this,'' said one . Most new vehicles may ply shuttle routes . While nearly 30 ,000 autos could hit the roads , the rest would be permits for black-and-yellow taxis and cool cabs .

A department source said this has been a long-pending demand of various auto and taxi unions and is being expedited so that the city gets more public transport . "Commuters have been asking for more autos on feeder routes outside railway stations . They want the number of share autos to rise ," an official said .

Auto union leader Sharad Rao said that merely 30 ,000 new autos will not suffice. "We have been demanding at least two lakh autos ." He also demanded that the 40,000 illegal autos should be thrown off roads .

An official at the transport commissioner's office said the department will start the process of putting up fare charts on all share-auto routes .

With auto drivers preferring not to recalibrate existing mechanical meters and switch directly to electronic gadgets , the RTO expects 70% of the total auto population (nearly 74,000) to get e-meters by the year-end . A senior RTO official told TOI, "We are surprised to see that several auto drivers want to switch to e-meters . This is a good sign ."

The deadline to switch to e-meters for all autos is March 31 , 2013 . State transport commissioner V N More said he, too, expected most drivers to switch to e-meters within the 45-day deadline for recalibration . "It will be in their own interests . If they recalibrate the existing mechanical meters , it will cost them at least Rs 400 besides the two to three days spent on the recalibration process . When they eventually switch to e-meters by March next year , they will have to go through the same process again and spend additional money ," More said .

Another senior transport official told TOI that it was a strategy by the department to make it compulsory for drivers to recalibrate all mechanical meters . "We knew that drivers would immediately rush for the e-meter ." Auto union leader Sharad Rao , too, has been encouraging drivers to switch. Rao added that he met the transport commissioner on Tuesday and requested him to set up camps at Andheri and Wadala of meter manufacturers , mechanics and drivers .