Karnataka Govt Orders Cab Aggregators to Stop Auto Services in Bengaluru in Three Days
New Delhi: The Karnataka transport department on Thursday, October 6 issued a notice to cab aggregators Uber, Ola and Rapido, asking them to stop three-wheeler services in Bengaluru for "overcharging and harassing customers".
The transport department declared aggregator autos as "illegal", and asked them to stop the services in three days and submit a report, according to the Times of India. It also warned of legal action if the companies failed to comply with the order.
According to the report, Hemantha Kumara, additional commissioner for transport, Bengaluru, said that the companies are not supposed to run auto-rickshaws with a cab-aggregator licence. As per the Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016, the licence has been granted to the aggregators to run only taxis and not autos.
"Taxis means a motor cab having a seating capacity not exceeding six passengers, excluding the driver," Kumara told TOI.
As per another TOI report, cab aggregators have hiked the minimum auto rickshaw fare in the city to Rs 100, when the base fare is fixed at Rs 30 for the first 2 kilometres and Rs 15 for every km thereafter.
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Ola and Uber India declined to comment to Reuters. Rapido told the news agency that its operations in Bengaluru are not illegal and it will respond to the notice.
"All our fares are determined in accordance with the fares decided upon by the state government, and Rapido is not charging any extra money over those fares," the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, C. Sampath, general secretary of Adarsh Auto Drivers' Union, told the newspaper: "The plan to stop aggregator auto services will not affect drivers. In fact, the aggregators were fleecing both passengers and cutting down our incentives. We received permits not to run for aggregators but for normal rides. As a union, we already asked our members to ply according to the government-fixed fare."
Last month, the Competition Commission of India had said that surge-pricing adopted by cab aggregators in the country appeared to be a 'Black Box' for customers and urged for transparency.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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