Hailing a taxi? Get ready to shell out more

BENGALURU: Starting Thursday, customers will have to shell out more while hailing taxis and app based cab aggregators, as the state transport department has released the new fare structure.

It includes a minimum fare to protect drivers from predatory pricing and a bandwidth of maximum fare, based on vehicle value.

According to a notification issued by K Beeresh, Deputy Secretary, "A car of D category, costing up to Rs 5 lakh at the time of purchase will charge a minimum of Rs 44 for the first four kilometres. The same cab can have surge pricing between Rs 11 and Rs 22 for each kilometre thereafter.

For C category cars priced between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, the minimum fare will be Rs 52 for the first four kilometres and they can charge in the range of Rs 12-24 per km thereafter.

The B category cars with a price range of Rs 10-16 lakh will have a minimum fare of Rs 68 for the first four kilomentres and they can charge Rs 16-34 per km thereafter.

For the highest priced category A cars that cost Rs 16 lakh and above, the customers will have to pay a minimum of Rs 80 and a range of Rs 20-45 per km thereafter.

The decisions were taken in after consultations with several stakeholders, including Ola and Uber.

Christian Freese, GM (South), Uber lauded the government move and said, “We welcome the revised fares, keeping in mind the interest of driver partners' earning potential. While it is a step in the right direction, we believe dynamic pricing will help increase reliability for riders."

However Ramesh Gowda, member of Bruhat Bengaluru Taxi Driver's Union, expressed displeasure. 

He said, “All stakeholders were not considered in the decision making. Are cabs only restricted to Ola and Uber? There is Meru, Mega, KSTDC, independent aggregators as well."