Taxis, autos to display drivers’ I-cards

If you’ve been cheated by a taxi or auto driver, you most likely didn’t know enough about him to file a complaint. That’s about to change now.

If you’ve been cheated by a taxi or auto driver, you most likely didn’t know enough about him to file a complaint. That’s about to change now.

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The state plans to make taxi and auto drivers paste inside their vehicle an identity card with the driver’s photo, name, age, license number and vehicle number.

As part of a new transport policy to be finalised by end-January, auto and taxi drivers will have to compulsorily display these details inside the vehicle.

An earlier decision making it mandatory for a driver to have the existing triangular driver’s badge pinned to his shirt didn’t help much — different drivers took over the vehicle at different times of the day, many with fake licenses.

“As with the city’s new fleet of private taxis, which have such details displayed prominently on the dashboard, you’ll feel much safer after we implement this in regular taxis and autos. If you need to complain about the driver, you have the details ready,” said State Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil.

The identity card will also display a complaint phone number for the traffic police.

Apart from the safety aspect, the transport ministry also wants to use this to crack down on the city’s roughly 5,000 taxi drivers who have fake driving licences.

“The ID cards, which are simply pinned onto a shirt, are easily misused, tampered with or exchanged. The new card will be permanently pasted,” he added.