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.