Bengaluru: Taxi aggregators Ola and Uber have received a breather of 15 days after the Transport Department decided to put on hold its crackdown on cab-sharing services.
The order came on Friday evening after officials had seized around 30 cabs for violating permit conditions by ferrying passengers to various locations on the same route.
Transport Commissioner M.K. Aiyappa said the decision was taken after the two cab aggregators submitted their representations on Friday morning. "The representation was sent to the State government and was approved. We will discontinue our drive against shared cabs for 15 days starting Saturday," he said.
During meetings held last week - at the behest of taxi drivers - officials had warned the aggregators of action if the ‘illegal’ services continue. These services violate conditions of the Carriage Permit, they say.
The carriage permit - under which the cabs are licenced - allows them to ply from from source to destination with passengers. Multiple pick-ups and drop-offs comes under the stage permit, which is given only to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation within city limits.
While Ola was unavailable for comment, they ran an ‘opinion poll’ through their Twitter handle on Friday. Nearly 75 per cent of more than 7,000 respondents extended support to their share services.
On the other side, drivers from the OTU (Ola, Taxi for Sure, and Uber) Drivers and Owners Association, who had complained to the transport commissioner during a recent meeting, also took to social media to gather support against the services, which they say is ‘unsafe for women’ while also reducing the commission given to drivers.
A spokesperson from Uber said: “Our legal teams will continue to engage with the Transport Department to find solutions for this.”
Drive against cab-sharing
The one-day drive on Friday against cab-sharing services ended with the seizure of around 30 cabs from the two companies. Cabs were seized in Koramangala, HSR Layout, Banashankari, Sarjapur Road and some other places.
In many cases, officials booked a ride through Ola Share or Uber Pool. When the driver came to pick them up, or accepted other rides, the cab driver would be asked to go to the nearest Regional Transport Office where the vehicle would be seized.
Charan C., whose cab was seized at Koramangala, says, “I was plying towards Jayanagar when I picked up an official. When I picked up other passenger along the way, the official asked them to take another cab and told me to head to the RTO saying the service is illegal.”
A charge sheet will be filed in the local court against the driver.
“The law allows for the booking of the owner of the cab. In these cases, the drivers are the owners and not the aggregators,” said Gnanendra Kumar, Joint Commissioner Transport (Enforcement), who added that, in a 90-minute briefing, inspectors were told to ensure that passengers were not inconvenienced.
For first-time offenders, the fine can be up to Rs. 5,000. Drivers said that the aggregators have promised to reimburse the amount.
