Karnataka transport department has decided to ban share rides for Ola and Uber.
The Karnataka transport department's decision to ban ride sharing for taxi aggregators Uber and Ola has not gone down well with those who believe this form of car-pooling will reduce traffic congestion, besides saving money for the customer. The state is hanging onto the nearly 30-year-old Motor Vehicles Act, made long before taxi aggregators arrived on the scene but applicable across India -- that says only buses can pick UP passengers from multiple locations. At present, cab-pooling is giving competition to buses, a chunk of which is the domain of the state.
Transport Commissioner M K Aiyappa admitted that shared rides are good for a city like Bangalore, which is struggling with congestion and air pollution. "But the only issue is the Motor Vehicles Act, which prohibits more than one contract in a ride... Their partners have raised this issue - taxi owners and drivers -and so we checked the Act."
Claiming that their permits allow aggregators like Uber and Ola to have only point-to-point rides and not multiple pick up and drop of passengers during a single trip, the transport department gave the companies a fortnight to respond on the issue.
In a statement, Uber has said it would "continue to engage with the transport department" as products like uberPOOL are the "future of urban mobility". The aggregator is working a petition, asking the government to update the Motor Vehicles Act.
While the Centre has issued guidelines for app-based services that are not covered under the Motor Vehicles Act, the guidelines are not binding on state governments.
The civil society - even those who don't need cabs - are firmly on the side of aggregators.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, MD of Biocon tweeted:State IT minister Priyank Kharge tweeted:The minister also told NDTV, "Karnataka is a progressive state and we will try to see that shared rides continue. There have been major changes in business models and governments need to keep pace."
Technocrat Mohandas Pai has also appealed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, saying pooling needed to reduce Bangalore traffic, since the work on the Metro is running late.