A total of 8,700 taxies of the 9,700 operating in the Kathmandu valley have been fitted with an automated billing machine as part of the drive to check random charging of taxi passengers, said the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM). 

The NBSM has launched a drive around eight months ago to install billing machine in taximeters operating in the valley in a bid to prevent passengers from being cheated in taxi fare. 

The machine is being installed in around 100 taxies on a daily basis, said NBSM General Director Bishwo Babu Pudasaini. It costs between Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 to fit a billing machine in a taxi. Those taxies without a billing machine are barred from plying in the valley, said the NBSM.