Hyderabad: While the trend of carpooling and booking cabs via mobile apps and over the Net are on the rise, especially along the IT corridor, there are hardly any security or background checks conducted on the drivers.
Many online car pooling websites are carrying out their business without actually exercising control over the vehicles, which is a specified requirement for operation, says authorities.
RTA officials in the city have launched a massive drive against cabs and taxis plying in the city without maintaining records and for other irregularities. Women passengers, meanwhile, complain that taxi and car pooling services in the city that are not dependable, leaving them with hardly any safe options to travel.
A woman passenger with first-hand experience of the now banned cab service, Uber, said that despite lodging two complaints against a driver, Uber had admitted to not being able to find the driver, as there were no records maintained. “I had booked a cab recently from the airport to Mehdipatnam through the Uber application. But on landing at the airport, when I tried reaching the cab driver, he was extremely rude and did not come. I lodged a complaint the next day and followed up continuously. A month later when I lodged another complaint with the Uber call centre, they asked me for more details saying that the driver could not be traced,” said Asha Rai, a software professional.
Joint Transport Commissioner for Telangana, T. Raghunath, said that during an intensive crackdown on cab operators in the city, 35 cabs were booked and seven were seized for various offenses including not maintaining records of drivers and passengers.
Over 500 travel companies have registered with the Hyderabad Transport Department and are operating 25,000 cabs and taxis in Hydera-bad and 20,000 in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district (under Cyberabad police commissionerate).
“Websites can operate cab services or even car pool services but they need to be registered with the Transport Depart-ment and must have vehicles of their own. In case of Uber Cabs, they were simply operating as a ‘call centre’. The enforcement will continue and we will focus on all kinds of private carriers, including buses and autos,” said Mr Raghunath.
