Ola, Uber, Rapido autos illegal in Bengaluru, Services to stop in 3 days
Bengaluru: The Karnataka transport department on Thursday issued notice to Ola, Uber and Rapido to discontinue their auto services in three days. The department has directed them to give explanation on complaint against exorbitant charges levied to customers.
The department has sent notices to ANI Technologies, ride-hailing platform Ola’s parent company, Uber and Rapido, and called their autos “illegal”. The ride hailing companies have been asked to stop their auto services in three days. The vehicle aggregators have been directed to submit a report.
Earlier, several commuters registered complaints with the transport department that Ola and Uber are charging a minimum of Rs 100 even if the distance is below two kilometres. Whereas the minimum auto fare in Bengaluru is fixed at Rs 30 for the first 2 km and Rs 15 for every kilometre thereafter.
The ride-hailing companies have been notified by the department to stop their auto services at the earliest and also not to charge passengers in taxis more than the fare prescribed by the government. And if they fail to comply with the order then they will face legal action.
T.H.M. Kumar, State Transport Department Commissioner has stated that they received a large number of complaints during last two to three days. The complaints were raised specifically against cab aggregators for charging double for auto services.
The cab aggregators have been issued notices and given three days’ time for explanation. “A decision would be taken once we receive the response,” he explained.
The additional commissioner for transport and secretary, State Transport Authority, L Hemanth Kumar has also said that they are not supposed to run autorickshaws with a cab-aggregator licence as Aggregator rules are only applicable for cabs. So, the apps have been asked to stop the autorickshaw services and submit a report.
Meanwhile, the Autorickshaw Drivers Union (ARDU) along with Nandan Nilekani-backed Beckn Foundation is planning to launch the Namma Yatri app on November 1 to rival the ride-hailing platforms like Ola and Uber.
D. Rudraswamy, President of ARDU had stated that app based service providers charge Rs 100 and give only Rs 60 to drivers, keeping the remaining amount as the commission.
(Source:timesnownews)
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