Only 3,500 cabbies in Kathmandu Valley have installed electronic billing machines in their vehicles following the directive of the National Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) three months ago. 

There are around 10,000 taxis operating in the Valley and those without the electronic billing machines have until July 22 to install them. 

The NBSM had made it mandatory for all Valley taxis to install electronic billing machines in January to protect the passengers from being overcharged. 

Under the system, passengers will get 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. 

Bishow Babu Pudasaini, director general at the NBSM, said all the taxis will be equipped with the electric billing machines by the July deadline. 

The Valley’s traffic authorities will start inspecting the taxis from July 22 and the drivers who have not installed the electric billing machines will have their licences seized, he warned. 

Installing an electronic billing machine will cost from Rs 5,000-Rs 9,000 and it must be renewed every year. 

Taxi drivers overcharging the passengers, particularly during the night hours, is a rampant occurrence in the Valley. In some cases, taxi drivers have been found tampering their metres to fleece the customers.

Pudasaini said with the new billing machines, the taxi drivers will not be able to overcharge the passengers while metre tampering can also be easily spotted. Moreover, he added, the passengers will have the receipt that they could use it as evidence in case they felt that they were cheated by cabbies and decide to file a complaint.