Finally, cab aggregators seek licence under new rules

Cab aggregators Ola and Uber, after months of mulling over Karnataka’s new rules for online transport networks, have finally decided to apply for licence under the Karnataka on-demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016, the Transport Department has stated.

Principal Secretary, Transport, E V Ramana Reddy, said the department had received applications for licences under the new rules. “We have issued final notifications setting guidelines for taxi aggregators. Ola and Uber have now applied to the Karnataka State Transport Authority for licence under these guidelines. There are, however, some conditionalities that are yet to be met in their applications. They have to tell us how many taxis are attached to them. They also have to deposit a security amount as prescribed in the guidelines. Our officials will seek these details from the taxi aggregators. Once these details are received and all conditions are met, the state transport authority will decide about the issue of licence.”

While this seems to be the case with the transport department, the aggregators on the other hand are looking for clarifications on certain rules. Uber General Manager, South and West, Bhavik Rathod, has acknowledged that the company has applied for licence under the new rules. “We have applied for a licence under the Karnataka on-demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016. But we need some clarity on a few rules and we have forwarded our concerns to the department. We are waiting for a response from the government. Certain rules take us back to a time when we didn’t have technology. But things have changed and we now have a massive technology presence. We are hoping that the government understands this new change and reformulates certain regulations that are more in line with the new technology push.”

The state government has fixed a security deposit of Rs 2 lakh for aggregators with a fleet of less than 1,000 taxis; Rs 5 lakh for those with 1,000 to 10,000 taxis; and Rs 10 lakh for an aggregator with more than 10,000 taxis attached to it. Ola and Uber have sought time to give the exact details of taxis attached to them.

Meanwhile, taxis have been told that they should not be charging passengers more than Rs 19.50 per km for AC cabs and Rs 14.50 for non-AC cabs after a minimum of Rs 80 for the first four kilometres.