Transport dept to digitise over 1.8 lakh auto and taxi permits

The transport department has decided to digitise the permit records of taxi and autorickshaws in the city from May.

The transport department has decided to digitise the permit records of taxi and autorickshaws in the city from May.

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The decision has been taken keeping in mind the number of complaints against taxi and auto drivers. "We have asked Maha Online Limited, a joint venture of Maharashtra Government and TCS, to digitise the permits for us us," said a senior transport department office.

"We have to digitise almost 1.85 lakh records of taxi and auto permits from all the RTO in Mumbai. It is going to start from Tardeo," said a senior Regional Transport officer (RTO) on condition of anonymity.

He added, "The permit records are not very well maintained and some are literally torn due to continuous use. Once they are digitised, it will become easy to track erring auto or taxi drivers."

Maha Online is also developing a web-based application through which commuters can register their complaints.

At present there are more than 1.50 lakh registered taxis and autorickshaws in the city. While there are 63,497 live taxi permits, only 41,820 are operational. Similarly, only 1.08 lakh rickshaws of 1.21 lakh with permits are on the road.