Taxi aggregator Uber is on course for a head on collision with the Transport Department. In direct opposition to the Transport Commissioner’s Friday deadline for aggregators to halt ride-sharing services, Uber has announced that it will continue with its UberPOOL service, claiming that it is legal.
Justifying the continuation of UberPOOL, Christian Freese, general manager, Uber, Bengaluru, said: “We believe UberPOOL is within the law, and so right now there is no push to stop the product. We have always said that ride share is something that is very much welcome for a city such as Bengaluru.”
Government officials, however, said there was no legal framework for ride-share services, and that they would not tolerate the flouting of rules. “If they decide to ply on Friday, we will take action against them,” Transport Commissioner M.K. Aiyappa told The Hindu .
The company has also started an online petition to gather signatures from supporters of UberPOOL, stating that they would present it to officials as proof of the popularity of the service. At a meeting with Mr. Aiyappa on Thursday, Uber tried to get the ban lifted, but was unsuccessful.
Mr. Aiyappa said: “We again explained our stand to them, reiterating that share rides are illegal for now. If they submit a representation, we will consider it since we are in favour of ride-sharing [services], but they cannot ply illegally till then.”
According to officials, any taxi offering ride-sharing services from Friday will be booked for permit violations, with the possibility of the cab being seized.
As of Thursday evening, Uber’s competitor Ola was offering ride-sharing services. The company did not respond to a request for a comment on whether or not they will be halting Ola Share.
Department to begin crackdown
With taxi Uber taking an aggressive stance against the Transport Department and stating that its ride-sharing service UberPOOL is not illegal, there will be a crack down on the service on Friday by the Transport Department.
Mr. Aiyappa explained that for ride sharing to be offered legally, conditions for the contract carriage permits need to be modified.
“They have been asked to stop these services and request for permission, which I am ready to recommend to the government,” he said.
However, Uber stuck to its stand that pool rides were not illegal. It justified this on Thursday with the statement: “UberPOOL is a product that enables driver partners to pick up and drop identified riders through the Uber app under a single contract. When a rider chooses UberPOOL through the Uber app, he/she consents to another person sharing the trip. There is a clear understanding between all the riders on the trip and the driver partner that the trip and the vehicle will be shared. The law permits a contract carriage permit holder to stop to pick up or set down passengers who are included in the contractual understanding with the driver. UberPool fulfils this requirement and we believe that it does not violate the contract carriage permit.”
However, this argument did not go down well with the Transport Department which had pointed out on Tuesday that contract carriage permits only allowed for pick up of passengers from a fixed point and drop to another fixed point. “They can pick up multiple passengers from one fixed point but not from multiple points,” said Mr. Aiyappa said.
Ride-sharing services have been recommended by an expert committee which submitted its report to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in December last year.
Their recommendations include ride-sharing with the express consent of the passenger.
However, no elaboration on the framing of rules for this was included in the report.
