Radio taxis in India vouch for safety and reliability

In the aftermath of the alleged rape of a girl by a Uber taxi driver early December 2014, the Association of Radio Taxis, representing all the licensed radio taxi operators across India, has categorically stated that unlike the technology companies like Uber, Ola and Taxi For Sure, all their members follow all the rules and guidelines issued by the State Transport Departments in all major cities.

The ones following the rules include Mega Cabs, Easy Cabs, Meru Cabs, G cabs (Gurgaon), Chanson Cabs, Yo-Cabs, Sky Cab (Hyderabad), RBTS (Chandigarh), Fab Cab (Chandigarh), and Star Cab (Indore)

All the major licensed radio taxi operators from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Punjab, Indore etc. were present at the press meet in New Delhi when this announcement was made.

The association members stated that they confirm to all government rules that cover the verification of the drivers, GPRS tracking of all taxis, drivers training for servicing various customer profiles etc. Besides, in the last 8 years since launch of radio taxi services in different cities in India, all these players have delivered completely Safe, Trustworthy and Reliable services to their customers.

The association members expressed their concern at the practices being followed by the technology companies who, they said, follow an aggregation model and operate taxi services without seeking a license from the State Transport Authorities and violating the laws and rules governing the radio taxi industry resulting in such heinous crimes taking place and bringing a bad name to the entire industry.

Sharing the details, the President of Association of Radio Taxis, Kunal Lalani, said that according to the guidelines laid down by the State Transport departments in different states, all taxi operators have to set up a call centre and  ensure that each radio taxi is equipped with a GPS/GPRS tracking device, which must be in constant communication with the Central Control Unit while the vehicle is on duty; that each vehicle displays the photograph of the driver and the driver’s license particulars are displayed on the dashboard of the vehicle; that the driver must have a driving license of appropriate category issued by transport authority; and that the driver’s particulars including background verification be done.

Kunal Lalani further pointed out that Association of Radio Taxis has been requesting the State Transport Authorities to remove the restrictive clauses in the Radio Taxi Schemes covering the tariff control, geographical restrictions for plying taxis and requirement for cars to be owned by taxi companies as these restrictions have negatively impacted the feasibility of the taxi operation and consequently the growth of licensed taxi fleets. Some of the States have responded positively to some of these suggestions but some other states have to respond to these reasonable requests from the industry association as this will help the industry to improve fleet availability for the commuters and also support the driver’s engaged in the industry.

He said that in the last few months companies like Uber, Ola and Taxi For Sure have started operating taxi services without seeking any licenses from the State Transport Authorities, presenting themselves as Technology companies, following an aggregation model and only placing a mobile application in the car violating all the rules and requirements of the Radio Taxi Scheme under Motor Vehicles Act.