Tamil Nadu Auto Fare Hike: In a major update for the commuters, the Tamil Nadu government has increased the auto fares for the first time in the past 13 years. As per the announcement, the minimum fare has been increased from Rs 25 to Rs 50 for the first 1.8 kilometers. Apart from this, the passengers will now have to pay Rs 25 for every additional kilometer in comparison to the earlier charge of Rs 12. The revision was made following multiple large-scale protests by the auto drivers in Chennai.
The fare was nearly doubled as the revision was done after a decade, that too after multiple requests by the auto drivers across the state. As per the revised fare chart, the passengers will be charged 1.5 times the regular charges for a ride between 10 pm and 5 am. Apart from this, a waiting charge of Rs 1 per minute will also be applied, the notification further read.
What Are The Key Changes?
- Rs 50 for the first 1.8 kilometers
- Rs 25 for every additional kilometer
- Ghat-routine minimum fare has been fixed at Rs 60
- Rs 30 for every additional kilometer on ghat routes
- 1.5 times the regular fare during the night travel
- The waiting charge has been fixed at Rs 1 per minute
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Earlier in 2013, the travel charge for first 1.8 kilometers was fixed at Rs 25 throughout the state. However, the price was not revised in the later years despite demands by the auto drivers' associations. The auto drivers alleged that while the fare was not revised, the fuel prices have increased significantly in the past few years.
Their concerns peaked this year after a war broke out between Iran and the joint forces of Israel and the US, leading to a surge in the fuel prices. Apart from this, the auto fare was one of the prominent issues in the recently conducted assembly election in Tamil Nadu.