Taxi aggregators violating under section 193

It’s been a bad month of Uber & Ola. Nearly two months back the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016 was kept in place. The battle between Transport Department and taxi aggregators are costing taxi drivers, ride fares, and time.

As per the rule, Taxi aggregators need to obtain license from the RTO for the taxis that are run under their umbrella. No such licenses were issued to cabs and hundreds of taxis were pulled over by Karnataka police on the basis of no required license. On Thursday alone, 200 such cabs without required licenses were seized in HSR Layout and surrounding areas.

The unresponsive behavior by the taxi aggregators towards this violation under section 193 led to a circular from Transport Department. As per notice any taxi aggregator operating with unlicensed taxis should shut down the operations immediately.

Joint commissioner of transport Narendra Holkar said in a statement, “The department had served two notices first 20 days back and another a few days back. Both the aggregators were asked to comply with the rules and obtain licenses. But they failed to follow. This time we have filed cases against both the taxi drivers and taxi aggregator.”

When asked about inconvenience caused to the passengers who has travelling in the seized vehicles, the official said, “We had made alternative arrangements during the drive.”

In response Uber spokesperson stated, “We have applied for a license under the Karnataka On Demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016 and the required inspection by the Transport Department was initiated yesterday. We are sharing all necessary paperwork required by the Transport Department and are awaiting our license. Meanwhile, we are in talks with the RTO regarding the ongoing enforcement drive and are hopeful of a quick resolution.”

Last month Karnataka government banned surge pricing for taxis.