Bengaluru: The shared cab service could be counting its days. Road transport officials, commuters and cab drivers all want the service to end as they feel it is not the safest mode of transport for commuters, especially women.
The transport department had earlier planned to ban such rides, but it has remained only on paper.
The state transport department guidelines specify that services like Ola and Uber have contract carriage permits and their cabs cannot pick and drop passengers between rides as they are only point-to-point pick up and drop services. Only vehicles with stage carriage permits, such as public transport buses, are allowed to pick up and drop passengers at multiple points.
Narrating her horror story, Shilpa (name changed), a software employee, said, “Sometime back, I booked a shared cab and was picked up first. Soon, two more passengers got in. I could sense that the two, both men, were drunk, and I asked the cab driver to allow me to sit in the co-driver’s seat. But the driver did not let me, and he continued with the ride. After a while, the two men started talking to me, and one of them wanted my phone number so that we could hang out together. I refused. That was the last time I booked a shared cab. Now, iI take only solo cabs.”
A source in the transport department said that the previous transport commissioner M.K. Aiyappa had planned to ban the service. But it never got implemented, and soon after Mr Aiyappa was transferred. Other officials never pursued it for various reasons, he said.
Tanveer Pasha, president of the Ola, Taxiforsure and Uber Drivers and Owners Association, told Deccan Chronicle, “The shared services are the biggest scam being run by cab aggregators. These services are in violation of permit conditions. Cab aggregators are introducing and running these facilities clandestinely. They have been bringing out more variants of shared rides, which is technically illegal. Most of our drivers are unhappy because their profits don’t see a rise and women don’t feel safe travelling with strangers. RTO had planned to ban the service last year. But some corrupt officials, who are in cahoots with the cab aggregators, are stalling it.”
A shuttle bus aggregator, ZipGo, faced similar issues with the government and was forced to shut services in 2015.
A senior RTO official said, “Yes, RTO had planned to ban shared services in the city, but is has been kept on hold because of some reason. We are sure it will be imposed soon. Till then, drivers can file complaints on such incidents, and we will take action immediately.”
