No More Uber and Ola Carpooling Services for Bengaluru

Uber and Ola, the two leading taxi aggregators in India, have been instructed to remove their carpooling offering from their apps in Bengaluru. The ban imposed on Ola and Uber's carpooling service by the Karnataka Transport Department will come into effect immediately. The decision to disallow carpooling, according to an ET report, was taken by authorities during a closed-door meeting with delegates of both cab aggregators as well as taxi drivers. In case you are wondering, the meeting was organized to address issues cab drivers are currently facing. Anyway, back to the ban on carpooling services in Bengaluru. The transport department says such services are illegal under the current provisions of the licenses afforded to aggregators. Authorities added that Ola and Uber must adhere to the regulations under the purview of their licence and that any supplementary services can be introduced only after receiving the legal go-ahead. VP Ikkeri, Transport Commissioner, Karnataka Transport Department, said, "Action will be taken against Ola and Uber if they continue to feature car pooling option. It’s not permissible under the present Act. We will write to the government to take a decision on car pooling services. Till then, such services will be illegal." Many cab drivers have hailed the decision, describing carpooling services as not only illegal but unfair as well. They said car pooling services offered by Ola, Uber, and others are undoubtedly a popular offering among customers, but the drivers' earnings from providing such services are meagre and don't even help them meet the expenses drivers have to incur. A representative for the drivers added that fetching multiple passengers from separate areas requires unncessary effort and eventually serves no purpose for the drivers. Source: Times Now