Bengaluru
It was business as usual for online mobility service providers on Wednesday as most platforms allowed booking of auto-rickshaws on their apps, almost nulling the ‘ban’ imposed by the Karnataka transport department.
According to people aware of the developments, at least two of the three aggregators met with the transport department on Tuesday afternoon where they were handed out notices in person to stop auto-rickshaw services with immediate effect.
“We saw in the news that there was a ban but we have been operating as we are on these platforms. It is better earnings. Transport department has been seizing vehicles and that’s why many of us are doing our work quietly,” said an auto driver who accepted and completed an auto ride on Uber on Wednesday evening.
The driver, who did not want to be identified, said he has been accepting rides only in Indiranagar and Koramangala as he was familiar with these places and there were no known seizure operations by the transport department as has been seen in other localities like Jayanagar.
However, the basis of the ‘ban’ is contentious since there is no legal standing for the government as there is no mention of auto-rickshaws under the Karnataka On-Demand Transportation and Technology Aggregators Rules 2016, which makes it hard for authorities to justify their ban — or approval for that matter, people aware of the developments said.
“Autos play a vital role in India’s transportation needs. We stand ready to work with the government to ensure that the benefits of e-hailing extend to the auto industry and particularly to the tens of thousands of drivers and several lakh riders who rely on aggregator apps such as ours,” a spokesperson of Uber, one of the biggest aggregators with operations across several Indian cities, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The people of Bengaluru have made it clear that they value doorstep pick-ups, no haggling and round-the-clock support that platforms like Uber bring to serve the mobility needs of the city,” the statement added.
One of the main contentions by traditional auto-rickshaw service providers is that aggregators earlier offered these rides at discounted prices and even incentivised drivers to be part of these app-based services.
However, they said, these incentives have since been done away with and these companies now charge higher than government-mandated fares and get away while those overcharging on roads are pulled up and fined heavily.
To be sure, there are three components to fares charged by aggregators which include per kilometre, minimum fare and convenience fee. According to industry insiders, the only money these aggregators make is the convenience fee which also has a GST component to it which is 5% on the organic fare (government-mandated base fare) and 18% on the convenience fee, HT reported earlier.
Aggregators had increased their base fare from ₹30 (for two kms which is double of what offline charges) to ₹60 and then added the ₹40 convenience fee, which takes the minimum fare to ₹100.
To be sure, the government-mandated fares are ₹30 (base fare for a minimum of 2 kms) and ₹15 per additional kilometre.
However, the spokesperson stated that aggregators have brought down the same fares to ₹30 which is in line with auto-rickshaws operating offline and ₹40 convenience fees which takes the minimum fare to ₹70.
“Today, I won’t budge, this is very clear. No matter who violates the law, strict action will be taken against them. Ola and Uber, who took permission for cars, should do just that and if they want permission to operate auto-rickshaws, they should get necessary approvals,” Karnataka’s transport minister B Sriramulu said.
“I am monitoring this seriously and have sent officials to check on the status of their approvals and if it has expired, then vehicles will be seized,” he said.
