Nashik: The Nashik Regional Transport Office (RTO) is keen to start a pre-paid auto and taxi services at Nashik Road railway station.The move would benefit hundreds of tourists, including pilgrims, coming to the city via train. The Nashik Road railway station is among the busiest on the Mumbai-Howrah section of the Railways with stoppages of several long-distance trains.An RTO official said a proposal would be drawn about the scheme and placed before the District Transport Authority, headed by the district collector, for final approval."We are keen to start this new service at the Nashik Road station so that tourists and devotees are not fleeced by auto and cab drivers. Every destination will have a fixed fare that the commuters will have to pay before beginning their journey," he said.Some of the destinations where devotees can travel availing the pre-paid services include Trimbak, Saputara, Shirdi and Vani.According to some RTO officials, although the bus fares are comparatively cheaper, the availability of buses to these destinations is not frequent. Also, at times, pilgrims and tourists need to wait for a long time before they get a bus to travel to their destination."There are many who visit the city for the first time and are clueless about the correct fares to different tourist and religious destinations near Nashik. The new scheme will be extremely beneficial for them," RTO officials added.Nashik regional transport officer Bharat Kalaskar said the RTO is presently conducting a survey about the feasibility of pre-paid services at Nashik Rd station."We are currently having discussions with different stakeholders about the project before we finalise our proposal that would be placed before the DTA. We are optimistic that this new service will be in place," he added.

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