As part of accomodating more people at business districts like Nariman Point, CST and Churchgate these six-seater taxis were introduced
In the last few months there are 200-odd such taxis (namley Maruti Eeco) that mainly ply on sharing-basis taking six people at a time, two more than what a normal black and yellow taxi does.
These taxiwallas however have complained on the grounds that they have spent more money on getting these vehicles and so wanted a hike in fares, especially when carrying individual passengers.
Now the authorities are mulling to increase fares for such 6-seater taxis by at least 10 percent. This would be enforced only on those people who would take long-distance and not share-basis.
Explaining the logic, a senior official from Transport department said that presently behind every 10 kms that a normal 4-seater taxi runs, a person spends around Rs 40 or so, but even after increasing the marginal hike for a 6-seater after dividing it would charge them less.
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Currently, the idea of hiking fares is in a nascent stage and there is a possibility that it may not happen in near future. "Price of six seater vehicles are relatively more than the four seaters and even base model is costlier. And so as an incentive for owners to bring bigger taxis, we are contemplating this," said a senior transport official.
Secondly, a proposal has been prepared by the transport department to make it mandatory for auto rickshaws tooto have roof light that would display whether or not the vehicle is 'On Hire or Not'. It is already being implemented for black and yellow taxis at the moment. For the time being no deadline has been decided for implementation as the department is yet to finalise the list of approved vendors from whom it can be bought for taxis and auto rickshaws.
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