Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Auto rickshaw fares in the city of Guwahati are inexplicably high without any concrete reason. This practice has been in play since the time when autorickshaws were the only means of fast transport and personal vehicles were much rarer compared to the modern day. But even after the entry of the taxi or cab services in Guwahati a few years back, auto rickshaw drivers have continued to charge exorbitant fares from the users, gradually leading people to move away from these vehicles.
One of the key reasons given by the auto rickshaw drivers for their over-the-top fares around 15-20 years back was that they would not get any return customers, so one who used to hire them needed to pay for both-way journeys, despite commuting just one way. Although the government tried to fix a standardized fare for them several times in the past to ensure that there is an affordable and transparent billing system similar to metro cities, the associations of drivers and owners opposed such a system and continue not to follow any standard except for what they deem fit.
As a result of such practices, auto fares between two locations, be it short (less than 5 km) or long (more than 10 km), are always higher than those of popular cab services. On top of that, they also lack any air conditioning as well as much lesser safety than what cabs have to offer the passengers. And with the introduction of the electrical rickshaws, the demands and use of petrol-powered ones have gone further down. These e-rickshaws enable short-distance transport at a much lower price compared to auto rickshaws.
Although it has been seen quite often that auto rickshaw drivers and owners stage protests and show that they are making heavy losses because of various reasons, if they do not attempt to standardize the fares anytime soon, they are definitely going to face even tougher competition in the days to come.
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