After the State government directed stopping of bike and bus services under aggregators, the popular “share” or “pool” feature is now under scrutiny.
Ola Share and Uber Pool allow users to book a cab — often at less than half the price of a normal ride — by allowing other passengers to be picked up and dropped along the route. This, however, violates the contract carriage permit, said officials of the Transport Department during a meeting with representatives of the two companies and drivers on Wednesday.
The meeting was necessitated after the drivers had listed a slew of issues they had with the cab aggregators, and urged the Transport Department to intervene. “We have told cab aggregators that share services are not permitted under the law. The contract permit only allows for picking and dropping from start to destination with no stops in the middle during a single trip,” said Transport Commissioner M.K. Aiyappa.
Share service is possible under a stage carriage permit that allows companies to charge based on stages of a trip. This, at present, can only be given to BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation). “At the meeting, cab representatives agreed to stop share services,” Mr. Aiyappa said. Cab aggregators were also directed not to use private vehicles (white-board vehicles) for their services.
Meanwhile, the drivers and company representatives agreed to sort out their issues amicably. “We brought up issues such as hike in commission taken from drivers, fine of ₹500 on the driver if he arrives late to pick up a customer, and for the impossible demand of up to 24 trips a day,” said Tanveer, a driver.
The companies were directed to resolve the dispute and submit a report by Monday.
