Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

A novel autorickshaw fare meter

For those who happen to pick up frequent quarrels with autorickshaw drivers over fares, a group of final year students of the Government College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, is some out to provide some relief.

They have developed an improved electronic fare meter based on applications of computer science and information technology. There are two electronic chip cards - one, the pre-paid card to be possessed by the passenger and the other the driver's card. The use of these two cards eliminates currency transaction as well as controversial issues such as distance covered on a trip, waiting charge and additional charge for night travel.

The technology is apparently simple. At the end of the trip, the passenger inserts his pre-paid card into a slot in the auto meter, enabling the recording of relevant details, including the fare payable and the balance available, in the micro-controller. The driver too does the same exercise and the fare receivable is transferred on to his card.

There is tremendous marketing potential for the auto card that eliminates currency transaction, as is the order of the day, say the students of the Department of Electrical and Electronics, who have developed it as part of their final semester project work.

The cards can be made available through retail outlets like petrol bunks and telephone booths from where the drivers should be able to encash the accumulated fare in his card, which in turn can be claimed by the retail outlets from the central card-issuing agency.

The team comprising Dukes J. Pitt, Ranjini N, Sreeja Nair D.V and Suchin V. Thompson, undertook the project under the guidance of M.S. Jagannath, assistant professor in the department.

J. Ajith Kumar

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A novel autorickshaw fare meter

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