Passengers to pay more for pre-paid autos services at railway stations and KSRTC stands in Kochi

Kochi: Prepaid autorickshaw services from major railway stations and bus depot in the city are set to become costlier for passengers. After a gap of nearly five years, motor vehicles department has revised fares for prepaid autorickshaws operating from Ernakulam Town and Ernakulam Junction railway stations, as well as the KSRTC depot. The revised rates will come into effect later this week.The fares were increased between Rs 10 and Rs 20, depending on the destination, following a request from autorickshaw drivers. For instance, fare from Ernakulam Town station to Padma went up from Rs 40 to 50, while the charge for a trip from Town station to Fort Kochi has been revised from Rs 260 to 280. However, minimum fare of Rs 30 for up to 1.5km was retained. With many roads in the city introduced as one-way traffic, prepaid autos, which operate with modest fares unlike other autos and app-based services, have to run additional kilometres to reach the passenger's destination and return. "With prepaid autos coming directly under our monitoring, they have to operate at a fixed rate, which they cannot increase as per their whims and fancies. Besides, they cannot refuse requests from passengers to hire their service for the minimum distance of 1.5km, which most city autos do," said a senior police officer. However, it was found that the service of prepaid autos was declining in the city. "There were around 400 autos earlier, and they functioned independently like a union. After the Covid pandemic railways started a cart licence valid for every six months, to bring accountability. It will be good if more autos are available at the station. But what we see nowadays is that most passengers prefer to hire online taxis/autos instead of resorting to prepaid ones at the station," said a railway official. An auto driver will have to shell more than Rs 2,000 to get a cart licence for six months. Besides, he will have to produce a police clearance certificate every year to the railways, by spending Rs 850. "Around 530 autos used to operate from the prepaid counter at Ernakulam Junction railway station. It became less than 200 after the pandemic. Besides, the railways introduced a cart licence system, for which we have to bear the burden of over Rs 4,000 per year," said a driver. Conducting prepaid service at the time of heavy traffic congestion became a loss-making service for the drivers. "The fixed prepaid fare from Ernakulam Junction railway station to Vyttila Junction was Rs 60. If we conducted the service by running the fare meter, it would show the fare touching Rs 80 for the same distance. That's why we demanded a fare hike. Even this hike is not profitable for us," he added.