Pay more for your cab ride from today

Many Mumbaiites are ready to shell out more money to pay for a cab ride, provided the vehicles are well-serviced and clean. They also want taxi drivers to be more cooperative.

Many Mumbaiites are ready to shell out more money to pay for a cab ride, provided the vehicles are well-serviced and clean. They also want taxi drivers to be more cooperative.

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From Monday midnight, commuters in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will be charged Rs17 instead of Rs16 as the basic fare. They will also have to pay 50 paise more for every additional kilometre.

"The hike is acceptable but it would have been better if 50 paise increase for each additional km was avoided," said Maitreyee Avachat, 22, a student and Shivaji Park resident.

Matunga resident and mechanical engineer Nikhil Desai, 59 feels that service quality must also improve. "Refusal to take passengers is the biggest problem in the city. Laws pertaining to it should be made stronger," he said.

Some commuters want old vehicles to go off roads "Only new vehicles should be allowed to ply so that commuters can travel comfortably," AM Sodder, advocate and Mahim resident.

"It's unfair to pay by the mile. The meter should be recalibrated kilometre wise. Instead of 1 mile (1.6km), the first flap should fall for 1km and the commuter should be charged accordingly," said Sunil Mone, a transport activist.

Taximen also have an issue with the hike, and are adopting it only on an ad-hoc basis. They want it reworked according to the increase in the city's standard of living. "Such a formula was adopted earlier and became outdated in 2006," said AL Quadros, Union leader, Mumbai Taximen's Union.