The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Prepaid auto booth to be computerised

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Saturday, Sep 01, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Prepaid auto booth to be computerised

VIJAYAWADA: The prepaid auto-rickshaw stand at Pandit Nehru Bus Station in the city is going to be the first computerised one in the State soon. Besides details pertaining to distance and fare to different destinations, the traffic police are also computerising the details of owners and drivers of auto-rickshaws, so that it will be easier to generate a receipt that is given to the commuters.

The arrangement is expected to be a win-win for the police and the auto-rickshaw drivers. The police will be able to monitor the movements of auto-rickshaws on different routes at different times, while the drivers of a particular stand will not have the fear of leaving their business to an ‘outsider’ as the computer programming has been done in such a way that priority will be given to drivers whose vehicle numbers are fed into the computer. As of now, the traffic police have fed the registration numbers of 200 auto-rickshaws into the computer.

The receipt will have details pertaining to destination, auto-rickshaw number, the number given to the vehicle by the police, vehicle owner’s name, trip number, passenger’s name, age, distance, fare and revised fare. If a passenger’s destination is away from the place to where the fare has been fixed, the passenger can bargain the fare with the driver. In such a case, the revised fare will be entered into the computer.

No manual job

The computerised receipt to be given at the prepaid booth will resemble a computerised bus ticket of the APSRTC. It will obviate the need for the police to do the manual job of writing down the receipts. Besides, the advantage of having a computerised database on the movements of auto-rickshaws in the city. Once the new system is introduced, the booth is expected to be manned by two head constables and three home guards.

The traffic police say that the plan is to computerise the three prepaid booths at the railway station too in a phased manner, so that the police can save manpower and get a thorough record of the movements of auto-rickshaws.

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