Guidelines from the Central government- Cab fares decreases, safety given more importance
Posted on: 11/Dec/2020 9:26:55 AM
The commuters would feel delighted but the cab drivers might feel disappointed!!
As per the latest guidelines released by the Central government it was clear that the surge pricing in the peak hours of time has been capped at 50%.The drivers of the cabs would be under strict scrutiny.
It has been brought out that those drivers who have been convicted of sexual offences, using drugs or other crimes etc in the last 3 years would not be allowed with the cab aggregators like Ola and Uber etc.
It must be noted that the drivers should not have been convicted inside the past 3 years on the offense of driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, any cognisable offence under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or the IPO 1860 including fraud, sexual offenses plus using motor vehicle for committing cognisable offence, crime involving property damage of theft or acts of violence/ acts of terror etc.
It was also mentioned that the cab drivers must compulsorily undergo medical check up including eye check up at a hospital and be provided insurance. The aggregator must bear the entire cost of the check up plus insurance.
Police verification of the cab drivers, API etc:
It was pointed out by the guidelines that the aggregators must finish police verification of the drivers 15 days before allowing them to work. Access to the cab aggregators Application Programming Interface or API would have to be given to the police. The licences of the cab aggregators would be cancelled if they do not pay the drivers on correct time. The power has been given to the state government.
The commuters are now feeling relieved and happy regarding the cab fares. In the past, the surge pricing used to shoot up to 250% to 300% but now it has been capped at 50%.An advocate expressed his thoughts about the fares and said in the past he used to pay Rs 250 to Rs 260 to travel from Thiruvanmiyur to T. Nagar in the peak hours when the actual fare was just Rs 80. He was happy that with new guidelines the fare would not be more than Rs 120.
Now, a section of cab drivers are unhappy regarding the centre allowing 80% of ride fares to the drivers and 20% to the cab aggregators. Information is cab aggregators like Ola and Uber have been 23% to 28% from the fares and the company’s share must be reduced to 10%.
Guidelines for safety:
The guidelines mandate that cars and autos integrated with aggregators must have valid registration certificates and other documents. This would prevent the use of stolen vehicles. The vehicles must have safety features like vehicle tracking devices plus panic buttons, child locks etc.
Point is that the MoRTH or Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have made changes to the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 to this effect. For issuing licences to the cab aggregators, the TN government would frame rules based on the guidelines. This would pave the way for regularisation of cab services.
