The Maharashtra Government has released a draft (pdf) of the City Taxi Scheme 2015, which states that online cab aggregators will come in the same category as radio taxis/traditional cabs, will have capped surge pricing and a limited number of cars on their platform in Mumbai. Note that price regulation happens with autorickshaws as well as traditional taxis, while for the online cab aggregators, this will be the first time. Cab rates could be between Rs 10 - Rs 25 per km; Bangalore may follow suit A TOI report from last month states that the revised fare could be in the range of Rs 10-25/km depending on the taxi model. Last week, Bangalore transport commissioner Rame Gowda told Bangalore Mirror that the Karnataka transport department would “put an end to surge pricing practices” after it issued a fixed fare guideline. Note that in March this year, Ola was told by Bangalore regulators that its peak hour surcharge was illegal and asked it to stop using the same. Uber: If regulation is passed, consumers will have to wait longer, pay more Following this, Uber has called for its users to sign a petition stating their concerns with cap on the number of taxis which can ply (longer wait times, higher fares), fare regulation “to protect the traditional taxi industry from competition”, LED panels and physical feedback registers among others. According to Uber, the scheme assumes fleet/radio taxis, black and yellow taxis and on-demand digital technology platforms like itself, to be in the…
