City has only eight registered taxi operators

Only eight taxi service providers in the City are registered with the Transport department and hence can continue their operations, according to the officials of the Transport department.

According to officials, the following operators - traditional, radio and aggregate service providers have registered with the department - Meru Cabs, Ola, Easy Cabs, KSTDC, Rapid, Spot City Taxi, Bangalore Clubs and Mega Cabs.

As per the transport department officials, all the unregistered operators would be plying illegally. 

“Only these eight operators are registered with different RTOs and the unregistered ones will be deemed illegal. If their taxis are found to be plying, they will be penalised. Even the permits of individual taxis associated with these operators may be cancelled,” Transport Commissioner Ramegowda told Deccan Herald. 

 Officials, however, added that the department was waiting for a clearance from the State government to issue a notification in this regard. A draft has been sent to the minister who is in Belagavi for the ongoing legislature session.  The same would be issued on Friday, said an official.

 When contacted on its non-registration, an official of TaxiforSure said, “TaxiforSure has not received any official communication from the authorities of Bengaluru on stopping our partner vehicles. We will continue to work with the government, and instruct and aid our partner network to follow the processes and procedures that were discussed and mutually accepted in our earlier meeting.”

 “ Our business model is asset-light, which means we don’t own any taxis. We work with operators who work with drivers. Our technological prowess and economies of scale, helps us reduce operating costs and pass on the resulting gains to customers. To ensure our business model also meets the law of the land, we take care to partner with those operators who have valid documents and verifications in place.”

“In wake of the recent developments, we are working with our operators closely and are instructing and aiding them to follow the processes and procedures that were discussed and mutually accepted in our meetings with the authorities”, a statement from the company said.

The transport department on Thursday booked 250 taxis in the City for various violations such as not having digital meters, permit violations, incomplete documents, ‘City Taxi’ board missing etc. The officials said that the drive will continue in the days to come.