“I had no options as I was in a hurry. That was not the first time I’d been duped. There have been many such occasions when I knew I was being cheated but I always ended up paying to avoid getting into a debate with the driver,” she says.[break]
Almost every Kathmandu valley resident can relate to Samata’s story. Each one of us, at some point, has paid absurd taxi fares. We know the scene all too well; cabs lined up on the streets but not a single one of them agrees to take you where you want to go. The drivers ask you multiple questions, and you explain, bargain and pester but still fail to convince them.
Dipesh Shrestha
Devi Ram Bhandari, spokesperson and director of Department of Transport Management informs that there are 8000 taxis in Kathmandu valley among which 1500 aren’t allowed to run as the drivers were found to be guilty of cheating the customers by tampering with the meters.
“The taxi fare in Kathmandu is 32 rupees per kilometer but passengers are overcharged. The cab meters have found to be tampered with in many cases,” he says.
The Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) and the transportation department have been working jointly to monitor the condition of the taxis of Kathmandu valley since January 13 after receiving numerous complaints.
Bikash Dhonju, chief of tempo, taxi unit at Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology says that 12 out of every 200 to 300 taxis that are checked every day have tampered meters. The flag down charge for cabs is Rs 10 and then the fare is Rs 32 per kilometer from six in the morning to nine at night. After nine at night, the flag down charge is Rs 15 and the fare is Rs 48 per kilometer.
According to Dhonju, since the campaign in January this year, 463 cabs have been found using fast meter calling to increase the taxi fare at a quicker rate. 290 cabs have broken their meters seals and 27 have done earthing.41 cabs were caught charging nighttime fare during the afternoon hours. 29 of them were found to have kept their meters as non-functioning and the rest 113 were cheating through other means of meter manipulation.
However, the most common trend in the capital has been not charging as per the meter reading but quoting a price, which is almost always ludicrously high.
“We usually have to explain the route and then the driver decides whether or not he wants to take us to our destination. But one should simply be able to take a taxi and pay according to the meter,” says Pradip Shrestha, 32, who is of the opinion that a taxi ride has become more of a hassle than a facility.
“There have also been instances when the driver agrees to use the meter but it runs so fast that we get overcharged anyways,” he adds. He even recalls an incident when the driver kept using the horn unnecessarily and that made the meter move faster.
However with the current campaign to prevent meter tampering, there seem to be some significant changes. “The situation is a lot better than before due to regular monitoring,” says Dhonju.
A penalty for breaching the law has also helped improve the matter to some extent. Depending on the level of breach of law, the fine starts from Rs 500. More than Rs 2000 is charged in cases of fast meter calling. There’s also a provision to seize the meters.
The three bodies responsible for the monitoring of the campaign agree that the SMS system has also helped in improving the situation to some extent.
DSP Pawan Giri, spokesperson of MTPD says that people can now find out the taxi rates of 612 routes of Kathmandu valley by simply sending a text. Type taxirate<space>location<space>to location and send it to 4321.
Similarly, if you’ve been duped by a taxi driver then you can lodge a complaint by sending a text to the same number. The text should read as taxi<space>taxinumber<space>description.
“When we receive a complaint, we trace down the taxis and take the matter to Department of Transportation and they take action depending on the record of the taxi,” he says.
The taxi drivers, on the other hand, have their own plight to share. Mani Bahadur Thapa Magar, who has been driving a taxi in the capital for over a decade, says that he just wants the government to make a law so that it doesn’t become a burden to both the drivers and the passengers.
“We’ve to wait for two to three hours to get a passenger and when they bargain, it’s unfair to us too as the price of petrol is 123 rupees per liter. For instance, when we charge 200 rupees from New Road to New Baneshwor, we just make a profit of 10 or 20 rupees. So in that way, we aren’t cheating at all,” he says.
Gopi Aryal, who has also been driving a taxi for seven years, agrees with Magar. “There may have been a few who’ve been duping the passengers, but not all taxis are like that. All we want is to be paid the amount we deserve,” he says.
Bhandari says that the transportation fare was raised by nine percent for all public vehicles except taxis. “In that way it has been unfair to the taxi drivers because of the hike in petroleum prices. They’ve demanded the fare be changed to Rs 50 per kilometer which needs consideration,” he says.
Though there has been a considerably huge public outcry over meter manipulations, there are many drivers like Magar and Aryal who just want to earn a decent living and hence want a proper law and system.
“We don’t even want the 50 rupees raise as that’s too much to ask for. We’ve heard that there will be a three rupee raise per kilometer. But I think raising the fare to 40 rupees per kilometer will be just right,” says Mani.
DSP Giri also asserts the need to implement proper rules regarding traffic and vehicles especially taxis in particular.
“A change cannot be brought about in a day. It will take some time for the progress to be felt and seen. We also cannot just depend on law as we need support from the public and the taxi drivers alike,” he says.
Though the concerned government bodies have started to monitor and enforce better taxi regulations, it all comes down to honesty on the driver’s part as well as awareness about rates by the passengers. The bottom line is that the fare needs to be reasonable so that both the parties are satisfied. No more, no less.
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