GPS device, panic button may be made compulsory in taxis

Government to fix cap on maximum fare for taxis

Traditional taxis as well cabs operating through mobile- and web-based apps in the State may have to have the Global Positioning System (GPS) and panic button installed, as per the Motor Vehicles Act.

At a meeting held in New Delhi on Tuesday and attended by transport officials of all states, transport department officials of Karnataka vehemently supported the proposed guidelines for the taxis being operated across the state.

During the meeting held under the Road Transport Ministry, it was decided to make installation of GPS and panic buttons mandatory in all taxis across the country including those which run through app-based service providers such as Uber, Ola cabs and TaxiForSure. Also, there would be a cap on the maximum fare that could be charged from a passenger by any taxi service provider.

However, the State transport officials said that the move is aimed at bringing uniformity across the country in the way taxis operate, besides ensuring the safety of passengers. At the same time, these would only be guidelines and the onus to make them mandatory would be on the individual state governments.

Detailed guidelines soon

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will issue these as a part of the detailed guidelines which will be circulated to the state governments for regulation and operation of all such vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Transport Commissioner Dr Rame Gowda told Deccan Herald, “We fully endorse the decision. In fact, we had already sent a proposal to the State government in this regard.”

On being asked if Karnataka would make the guidelines mandatory, he said, “Let the Centre issue guidelines first and a decision will be taken after studying these,” he said.

Already, aggregator taxi services such as Ola and TaxiForSure have started installing the panic buttons and GPS devices which are fitted in the taxis voluntarily, post the Delhi incident wherein an Uber taxi driver raped a girl during a ride.

However, the cap on how much the taxis can charge will be of great relief because so far most of the taxis are charging arbitrarily and making it mandatory to follow a uniform fare slab will be a great relief for passengers, said an official of the Transport department.