Transport department awaits notification on bike taxis

The Transport department will go ahead with its special drive against bike taxis and cab aggregators to ensure that they comply with rules framed under the recently gazetted draft notification.

The draft had been in the public domain for over a month to invite objections to the rules. The timeframe for inviting objections has been completed and the Transport department has decided to incorporate three or four objections as the rest of them were found to be too general. 

“We have received around 15 objections. Of them, only three or four can be incorporated in the draft, as the rest are too general. But we will continue with the drive against bike taxis and cab aggregators. Despite repeated drives, bike taxis are continuing to operate. We will act against them even though the final notification of the draft regulations has to be made public,” Joint Commissioner for Transport, Enforcement, Narendra Holkar told Deccan Herald.

According to Holkar, individual taxis with permits, fitness and emission certificates, registration certificates are not in the wrong as long as they operate as taxis not attached to the aggregators. “They have all the permits and they do not violate any conditions. But the moment they attach themselves to the companies, they become violators, because, as aggregators you do not have the right permits.

 There is no permit that recognises the aggregator class. So we expect that the aggregators would follow draft regulations until the final ones are notified. We find that the aggregators are not following the draft regulations and therefore our drive has to continue,” Holkar said.

Meanwhile, the aggregators have responded to the draft guidelines and are awaiting the Transport department’s response. They would not interact with media persons as they await an official response. They are in a dilemma whether to operate or not to – if they operate, they expect a drive against the bike taxis and if they do not operate, they lose business and revenue. While this dilemma continues, on the roads one can see bike taxis and aggregator cabs. The drive against them was suspended for about a week as the Transport department was examining the aggregators’ response. But since the violations will continue if not acted upon, the agency has decided to continue the drive against them even as it waits for the final notification.