Passengers arriving at the Chennai Central Railway Station, especially by night trains, are back to haggling with taxi drivers who charge exorbitant fares.

The prepaid taxi system that had been operating successfully for some years now has been shut down reportedly because the lease agreement got over, and new tenders are to be floated soon.

Simultaneously, with the Metro rail construction in the vicinity picking pace, not many auto drivers are getting into the Station’s autorickshaw lane to drop the passengers. They instead opt to drop most of them on the main road or just outside the complex. So the prepaid autorickshaw stand operates minimally. “We shut it down by 9 p.m. because we are unable to find enough vehicles for the passengers who come to our counters,” G. Arumugam, president of the prepaid autorickshaw stand said.

For passengers who arrive with little knowledge about locations and their distances from the railway station, the scenario creates a pretty bad first impression of the city.

Last week, a taxi driver was seen demanding as much as Rs .400 as fare for an 8-km ride, pegging the per km rate at Rs. 50. Another huge problem at the Chennai Central Station is there are no proper signage for passengers about the available options of getting around the city.

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Just as an air passenger arrives at Chennai airport, he is left clueless on how to venture into the city. Most likely, he is bound to miss the stalls of prepaid taxi services like Fast Track Ltd., and Aviation Express hidden in a corner of the domestic terminal.

With no standard operating tariffs, several other taxis entering the airport to drop passengers use the opportunity to badger the passengers waiting for a vehicle. These drivers also park their taxis in a haphazard fashion leading to congestion in the service road of the airport.

“It is not just the unauthorised taxis services that cheat passengers; the prepaid taxis too have exorbitant fares. When a passenger arrives, he could easily be cheated by these services,” S. Ramachandran (name changed), a passenger said.

And here too, there is a lack of proper signage, he said “Cities abroad and even Delhi, for instance, have clear signs that lead passengers to selected points where they can board designated taxis,” he added.

Fortunately, for those with the inclination to public transport, the airport has good rail and bus connectivity. On the flip side, it could be a taxing walk for a passenger with baggage all the way from the terminal to the bus stop or suburban rail station.