Auto, taxi unions waiting for draft rule to demand hike

Commuters can breathe easy as auto-rickshaw unions are hesitant to ask for a fare hike owing to tough competition from taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber.

An annual hike is expected in May as the high court had upheld findings of the Hakim Committee which recommended that the hike be given in the same month.

Ola recently started a new scheme where a passenger is charged as little as '6 per km to attract more users while Uber gave offers like the famous '60 cab for an entire day.

Shashank Rao, whose union, Mumbai Auto-rickshaw Union (MAU), was main responsible in getting auto-rickshaw fares increased from '15 to '18 said it had not given any calculations to the state government. “We are giving them time and are hoping that the state will voluntarily come forward with increased fares,” he said. This is uncharacteristic for Mr Rao, who had last year demanded a hike and called the delay in increasing fares ‘inhumane’.

Mr Rao said that transport commissioner Shyam Wardhane was out of town for the past week and they would be meeting him soon to discuss the fare issue. “He has come back to town today, so yes, we will be meeting and discussing the issue with him soon,” he said.

Union insiders said that leaders were hoping that the draft rule that would bring taxi aggregators under the ambit of the government would be out soon.

“Union leaders are hopeful that once the draft rule comes in, private taxi companies will have to be accountable to the state and follow some rules so their fares will automatically increase.

Then, the auto-rickshaw or taxi fare hike will be justifiable to the public,” said a source.

The city has seen protests from both auto and taxi unions owing to passengers increasingly shifting to app-based taxis.