The first of autorickshaws and taxis with recalibrated meters are expected to hit the city roads by Tuesday. State transport officials and union functionaries said the job of fitting and testing meters being done by technical colleges was going on at a brisk pace.
On Tuesday, vehicles that have been fitted with new meters will be produced at the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) at Andheri, Wadala and Tardeo for road test. Once road test is completed and meters sealed, drivers can take their vehicles out to transport people.
Officials said the real rush for road test would begin only on Wednesday.
Speaking to dna, KT Golani, regional transport officer, Tardeo said: "The long weekend (Friday to Monday) means we might not have too many vehicles for road test on Tuesday. But from Wednesday, the numbers will rise. We have made extra testing tracks at Bhakti Park in Wadala and near Anik Depot apart from our usual testing track at Worli. We are geared up to test around 1,000 vehicles a day."
The largest RTO in the city, Andheri, has set up tracks near MHB police station and Inorbit Mall in Goregaon apart from its Andheri campus. Andheri has the vast majority of the 1.05 lakh autorickshaws in the city.
Thampi Kurien, secretary, Mumbai Rickshawmen's Union, also expressed satisfaction at the pace of the process. "Technical colleges are managing to test two to three thousand meters a day, which is a good sign. By Tuesday we expect a lot of rickshaws to queue up for the road test. And if everything goes according to plan, the first of the rickshaws (with meters calibrated according to new fare) would take to the streets on that day itself," said Kurien.
He, however, pointed to a phenomenon that might be played out in the city over the next few days. "It's quite possible that rickshaws with calibrated meters will see a drop in business at first. For example, say from Wednesday, people may not take a rickshaw with its number ending in zero as they would know it would charge the revised rate.
Passenger would look to save on the 14% fare hike as long as s/he can," said Kurien.
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