App-based cab services policy has DHC stamp, says Satyendra Jain

Under the policy, all app-based cabs will have to ply by the meter and can not charge above the prescribed fare approved by the Delhi government. “We will fix fares for them as we have done in the case of radio, economy cabs and yellow-black taxis”, the transport minister said. Additional night charge or 25 per cent of the fare is applicable between 11 pm and 5 am.

A senior official said several app-based cab companies, including Ola and Uber, are not registered with the Delhi government’s Transport Department, but still they are running their taxis in the capital.

On Wednesday, the court asked the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government to make a policy for app-based cab services like Ola and Uber. Ola and Uber were criticised for using the model during the Delhi government’s odd-even road rationing scheme in April. They believe that the fare calculated hrough Global Positioning System is inaccurate and the black-and-yellow taxi rate card is better for consumers.

Justice Manmohan advised the transport department of the Delhi government, the Union transport ministry and Delhi Police to work together to ensure “seamless flow of data” regarding people applying for licence or permit to drive taxis.

Rajiv Nayyar, counsel for ride-hailing service Uber, told the court that the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is now being amended to include provisions covering app-based aggregators.

It has been prepared at the request of the Delhi High Court, which said there was a need for a good and model law for regulating app-based cab services like Ola and Uber, to bring in more clarity.

As per the new policy, cab aggregators will not be allowed to implement surge pricing and they will have to charge fares only through meters. On its “Prime Sedan” (base price Rs 10/km) category, it could go still impose a “2.3X” surge.

The minister hoped that with this move the surge pricing employed by the taxi aggregators may get curbed.”Companies will have to announce all fares transparently”, he said. “All app-based taxi services will be regulated through this policy”, the transport minister said.

Delhi is now following in the footsteps of Karnataka, who had earlier laid out a set of rules and regulations for these cab aggregators to follow.