There has been a surge in the number of auto-rickshaws plying in the city. Since June 2017, the time Transport department opened up permits for buying autos and taxis on road, the number of autos has increased to 2.06 lakh, which was 1.30 lakh earlier. Even then refusals to ply continues. Regional Transport Office (RTO) officials agree that the auto drivers without hesitation, refuse fares and push off. "Initially not many were coming forward to apply for permits for the black and yellow cabs. However, people still seemed interested in getting permits for autos. Over the past months, the number of autos registered has gone up," said an RTO official. There has been a rise in the number of yellow plated 'T permit' cars running as mobile aggregators. If one sees the population density rate as per census, there has been a considerable increase in both eastern (0.88%) and western (0.72%) suburbs, while a drop in island city (-0.78%). Experts argue that ideally, the BEST should have increased their fleet, however, auto-rickshaw numbers went up forcing people to use it more often. This is apparently a major reason why auto drivers, without hesitating, continue to refuse fares. In an ideal situation, a BEST bus could carry as many as those traveling in 20 auto rickshaws. "People were forced to move towards auto-rickshaws as BEST did not increase its bus fleet. Now that reforms are being made with BEST going for more and better buses plus Metro rail lines coming in; this could put pressure on auto drivers. Also, the government should give priority routes for the BEST buses," said AV Shenoy, transport planner and member of Mumbai Mobility Forum. Share autos and taxis are also seen overcharging passengers other than plainly refusing fares. The transport department claims that they have been conducting regular drives and between March and July 2019, RTO squads took action against more than 12,500 autos for refusing fares, overcharging, ferrying extra passengers and plying without documents.

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