The report has suggested changes to MV Act which if passed by Parliament will remove legally grey status of cabs: Delhi Govt had proposed banning of rides in shared cabs
In what is likely to come as welcome relief to commuters and app-based cab operators, shared rides may finally become 'legal' in the country, if recommendations made by the parliamentary standing committee, in its report, are accepted by the government. The recommendations will require amendments to the Motor Vehicle (MV) Act which have to be passed while Parliament is in session.
Currently, shared cab rides had operating in a grey area legally, with some states such as Karnataka having banned it. As far as the Capital was concerned, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, under its City Taxi Scheme 2017, had proposed to ban shared rides offered by aggregators such as Ola-Uber, as it violated the rules of the existing MV Act.
The Delhi government is still to roll out its scheme as the final draft is lying with transport minister Kailash Gahlot for deliberation.
The parliamentary standing committee report suggests the "allowing of shared rides by amending the existing rules, as it makes transport affordable to commuters as well as help decongest city roads." It also stated that the promotion of shared rides resonated with the idea of 'car-pooling' to encourage using public transport over private conveyance.
But transport department officials maintain that ride-sharing cannot be allowed until amendments are made to the Act by the union government.
The debate over shared cabs comes at a time when cities around the world and even the AAP government, which had started the odd-even scheme two years ago, stressed on measures such as car-pooling in a bid to cut down on vehicular pollution as well as reduce congestion.
According to officials, the pool rides, which are offered on discounted fares by the taxi aggregators operating in Delhi-NCR could not be allowed, as there is no provision to pick up random passengers on the way, Under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
Last year, the Karnataka government had banned the sharing services offered by cab services in Bengaluru.
"Ride-sharing is not allowed in the Act. Contract carriage licenses issued to private aggregators does not allow cabs to pick and drop passengers from different points. Sharing rides in commercial private aggregators accounts for permit violations," said a senior official.
GREY AREA
- Currently, shared cab rides had operating in a grey area legally, with some states such as Karnataka having banned it. The Delhi government had proposed to ban such rides.
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