Sunday, August 25, 2013

Chennai Auto fares fixed after seven long years

We at Bhumi started a campaign on www.Change.org on June 25, 2012 to fix the auto fares in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu. 16,632 people signed the petition and we met the government several times, it has all finally paid off

The government of Tamilnadu have announced the revised Auto meter fares today


I received a call from the Transport Minister an hour back (Aug 25, 10AM) with the following details

  • Minimum fare for the first 1.8 Km is Rs.25, and for every additional Km is Rs.12.
  • Between 11pm to 5am the charges would be 50 percent in addition to the fare.
  • Waiting charges for 5 minutes would be Rs.3.50 and for an hour it is Rs.42.
  • Complaint mechanism helpline 'like 108' will be established
  • It's the first time in India that the GPS electronic meter is going to be used, which would record the details of the journey travelled and has a panic button, that if pressed by the customer would alarm the police.
  • GPS electronic meter will be issued for free by the government free, at a cost of Rs.80-90 crores
  • From the news: Drivers charging extra will get their licence suspended or the auto will be seized.
  • From the news: The corrected fares comes to effect immediately and the final deadline to the fix meter is October 15th. 
  • Reference - Relevant Government Order
Lots of people to thank: 
  • Our Chief Minister Ms.J. Jayalalithaa
  • The Transport Minister Mr.Senthil Balaji
  • The officials of the state transport department 
  • The 16,632 people who signed the petition to make this happen. Our voice was amplified 16,000 times because of you! 
  • Members of the press, especially The Times of India - Karthikeyan Hemalatha
  • www.Change.org - for creating the platform, esp. Surendran Balachandran for all the guidance & encouragement
  • The awesome team at Bhumi, anything is possible as a team!