Soon, Delhiites may lose out on cheaper cab rides

Ola Share and Uberpool, popular features of the two app-based cab aggregators which allow users to share rides at a cheaper rate with other commuters could soon be banned by the Delhi government.

The Delhi government’s City Taxi Scheme, 2017 is currently being scrutinised by senior officials and will soon be finalised. “The scheme, which is a regulatory framework for cab services in the city, will ban shared cab rides as it is not compatible with the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988”, an unnamed AAP official was quoted as saying by Mint. Currently, Karnataka is the only state where these services are banned.

Taxis in the city run on contract carriage permits, which allow them to be hired from one point to another. This means taxis cannot pick up or drop multiple passengers on a single route. Only vehicles with a stage carriage permit, such as public buses, are allowed to pick and drop passengers at multiple points (on a fixed route).

“In principle, we are in favour of cab sharing as it not only provides an affordable commuting option to passengers but also reduces the number of vehicles on roads. However, such operations don’t come under the present legal framework as taxis are only allowed to be hired from one point to another and cannot pick and drop passengers,” a government official was quoted as saying by the Economic Times.

Newslaundry went around Delhi to find out what citizens who use these carpool services think about this.