Taxi-hailing firm Uber said it has applied for a radio taxi licence in Delhi and resumed its operations after a one-and-half month ban following rape allegations against one of its drivers.
The firm’s plan to apply for the licence is a climb-down from its long-standing stance that it is just a technology provider, not a transport operator, and so traditional radio taxi regulations don’t apply to it.
Experts feel Uber’s move brings in a lot of clarity and sets a precedent for firms acting as aggregators across various sectors. “This can be considered a landmark move. Now, they can be held responsible if things go wrong and they cannot take cover saying they are technology providers. Other States and countries can also follow suit across sectors,” Ramesh Vaidyanathan, managing partner, Advaya Legal, said.
However, Uber maintained that the move did not change its business model. “Uber is not a radio taxi company…While we have applied for a licence under the amended Radio Taxi scheme, we remain a technology company. The licence simply allows radio taxis to operate on our platform, just as we do in many other jurisdictions (e.g. Hong Kong/Singapore),” a spokesperson said in an email response.
More safety measures
Uber said it would introduce additional safety measures, including more stringent driver checks, an in-app emergency button and a dedicated incident response team.
Mr. Vaidyanathan also expressed surprise at Uber’s move to resume operations just by applying for radio taxi licence. “They have to wait for approval,” he said.
‘Still blacklisted’
Reuters, quoting a government official, said Uber remained blacklisted. “They don’t have a licence yet, they have only applied for it.”
