Ola and Uber to face the fare capping by govt

A high-level government-appointed panel has suggested fixing an upper cap on taxi fares to lay down a stricter framework of transport regulations for cab aggregators like Ola and Uber.

The panel met at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh for two days to discuss these regulations, consisted of state transport ministers, headed by Rajasthan Transport Minister Yunoos Khan. The panel said, "Liberalize city taxi permit scheme. Aggregators should follow the rules relating to fares, fuel, and safety as mandated by the Transport Department. The upper cap for the fares should be fixed by the Transport Department."

It is still unclear who will decide the upper limit on the fares — the local transport bodies or the central government itself.

In April this year, Karnataka government - who had also raised objections on unlicensed taxis by cab aggregators by like Ola and Uber - had banned surge pricing in the state by releasing a set of regulations. However, Uber filed an objection against the state Government’s decision for which the two parties will meet in court on June 20 to discuss this matter further.

Karnataka Government has also introduced a rule which made a license and a tamper-proof GPS device necessary for taxi aggregators. Also lifted various rules in order to enable online taxi aggregators to function efficiently in the state. It includes dropping license fees, security deposit, and aggregator license fee and bringing down the time period for drivers to be qualified for driving taxis.

Ola became the first cab-aggregator to operate under a valid license in Karnataka as it has obtained the necessary permission from authorities when Ola was banned in May. Uber recently addressed the court again blaming Karnataka state transport authorities for refusing to accept their documents or even acknowledge the document submission for obtaining the license.

If the new recommendations are uniformly implemented by the center across all states, such frequent confrontations between cab aggregators and local authorities can be avoided.