Unaware of new rates, passengers pay exorbitant taxi fares

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Sep. 11 (EMN): Anomalies in the local taxi fares persist as passengers continue to pay excessively to taxi drivers plying around the state capital.

Despite the revised fare issued by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Kohima, as part of the new SOP directing taxis to charge INR 25 only per passenger, taxis continue to flout RTA rates.

Owing to the pandemic, RTA had earlier cautioned taxis that violating the new directive would be penalised under relevant Motor Vehicles Act on September 7. However, there seems to be no implementation of the new SOP as taxis keep charging exorbitant rates from passengers.

An elderly passenger, while speaking to Eastern Mirror, shared that he had decided to walk home to Naga Hospital colony as he had to pay INR 50 to a taxi driver. The passenger said that he would have, otherwise, hired the same cab that he had used to travel to Razhu Point from High School junction if the fare was INR 25.

A woman passenger who travelled via a taxi from BOC to DBS area and returned to Razhu Point from DBS had to pay INR 400. She was supposed to pay around INR 250-300 only but the driver insisted on INR 400 as fare, arguing that he travels only on alternate days due to the odd-even rule.

When this newspaper asked a passenger if he knew about the revised fare, he responded that he ‘didn’t know’ and that the driver, who dropped him from BOC to the main town, was charging INR 50.

Interestingly, the traffic police personnel on the ground were also not aware of what’s going on between the passengers and the taxi drivers. When queried, they stated that they were not checking the fares since ‘they were not given any order’.

Not only during the day, but taxi drivers also take undue advantage at night by charging unreasonable fares despite lesser traffic inconveniences.

While the authority has temporarily fixed the fare for passengers travelling to main town few days ago, it is yet to classify the taxi fares on the routes across the urban areas in the city on hire basis.