Bengaluru: Asked to pay more by autorickshaw driver? Here’s how you can complain

On Friday, the Karnataka High Court allowed the cab aggregators to run auto-rickshaw services with an excess fare of 10% of the government’s fixed cap prices in the state. Ola and Uber challenged the state government’s service ban decision on taxi apps.

Now, the cab aggregators slashed the minimum auto-rickshaw fares to ₹35 and the Karnataka transport department has asked people to report to the authority if they charge more than 10% of framed prices.

In a report by the Hindustan Times, Livemint’s sister publication the Karnataka Transport Department has received numerous complaints from passengers alleging that the app-based aggregators were charging more.

The department said, “It will be contempt of court if taxi apps charge more than 10% of the government fixed cap. We will submit all the complaints to the court in the next hearing”.

The transport department has also put out a Whatsapp number to report the overcharging.

Recently, the Bengaluru Police had also tweeted the complaint numbers for customers if auto drivers demand high fares. The Bengaluru police wrote that if a user complained of an auto driver demanding a high fare, a post on the official Twitter handle read, “You can call our automated IVRS to book complaints. Please call 080-22868550 / 22868444 and mention the registration number of the auto-rickshaw, place, time, and date. Kindly use our IVRS to book complaints against autos Offenses. (sic)”

Starting from Saturday, Ola and Uber slashed the minimum auto fare to ₹35. Earlier, it used to be as high as ₹100. The Karnataka government is reportedly going to come up with a new framework of auto fares in the next 10 to 15 days.

Last year, the Karnataka government hiked the metre fares of auto drivers to rs 30 from ₹25 for the first two kilometers and the base price per every kilometer increased to rs 15 from ₹13.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru Auto Drivers’ Unions and the Welfare Associations’ Federation have continued their demand that the Karnataka Transport Department should blacklist illegal apps and white-board bike taxi services for allegedly exploiting the customers as well as drivers.

The auto union has urged the transport department to create its own transport app to provide citizen-friendly services under government guidelines.

The auto-rickshaw union has also blamed aggregator companies for “disrupting the transport services”.