Unions are reluctant to start shared autorickshaw services as the last-mile connectivity for Metro despite the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) giving its clearance to the proposal on Wednesday.
The unions claimed that it was difficult to start the service till proper space was made available for the vehicles at Metro stations. Nitin Pawar of Rickshaw Panchayat, the largest union in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, said, “Where is the space near maximum stations for parking? How it is possible to run the service when space is a problem. We have been enquiring about the same with authorities, but they don’t seem to have a plan,” he said.
Pune’s deputy RTO Sanjiv Bhor told TOI that with the permission granted, autorickshaw services could start from the 18 operational Metro stations. “The maximum distance these autorickshaws can ferry passengers in a shared service is 9km from any particular station. The fare has to be divided equally among three passengers.”
Pawar said, “If they want pick-up and drop service, there should be a traffic policeman or an RTO inspector to monitor the situation. Without proper space or monitoring, there will be chaos.”
Anand Ankush, the president of Aam Aadmi Rickshaw Union, said all vehicles had the permit to run as carriage carriers. “For running shared service, one needs the permit of a stage carrier. We won’t operate shared autos as we already have a MoU with the MahaMetro to run regular meter autorickshaw service. Profits from shared service will be less,” he said.
“PMPML buses are fine but they will not help much in the last-mile connectivity. The authorities should finalise something fast,” Manish Joshi, who has been using Metro services, said.
