Cab drivers in the Kathmandu Valley will be required to provide taxi receipts to their passengers under a pilot project the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) plans to launch in a bid to prevent travellers from being ripped off.

The bureau said that taxi cab drivers have been found overcharging passengers by tampering with the taxi meter. However, travellers cannot file a complaint for lack of evidence.

NBSM Director General Bishwo Babu Pudasaini said that a technical team had been formed to determine the method of the billing system. “The team has started consultations with stakeholders on the modality of the billing device to be used in taxi cabs,” Pudasaini said.

According to him, a pilot project will be launched within a month. “We have started doing homework on the number of billing devices to be used in the first phase along with the type of equipment to be used in the taxis.”

Once the billing system is installed, passengers will be given a receipt at the

end of the journey which will state the distance covered by the vehicle, the registration number of the taxi and the fare.

The receipt can be used as evidence to file complaints against taxi drivers who misbehave with their passengers or overcharge them or trace a cab in which passengers have forgotten their belongings.

Pudasaini said the use of taxi receipts would help discourage cab operators from fleecing their passengers.

Cases of taxi drivers overcharging passengers are mainly encountered at locations such as hospitals, bus parks and airports, including Tribhuvan International Airport, where disembarking air travellers have no choice but to take a cab.

Cab drivers also capitalise on the shortage of public vehicles during festivals and Nepal bandas.

A few months ago, the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division had caught 37 taxi drivers in a single day on the charge of cheating customers by tampering with the meter or refusing to go to the destination said by travellers.

Besides the traffic police, the NBSM also checks taxi meters for tampering. According to the bureau, it inspects up to 40 cabs per week and 2 percent are found to have meters that have been tampered with. Last year, it checked the meters of 225 cabs in the Valley.

As per the NBSM, cab drivers are required to have their meters calibrated by the bureau once a year. However, many do not do so.

According to the statistics of the Transport Management Office, Bagmati, there were 5,000 taxis running on the Valley’s streets as of last year.

The government has announced adding 1,500 taxis this year in a bid to provide employment to earthquake victims.