Delhi Transport Department has brought online cab aggregators like Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure under Radio taxi license by amending its Radio taxi regulations (pdf) last week. The department said that these services will continue to remain banned until it complies with these new norms and opts for a radio taxi license. Note that Delhi government had banned all unlicensed taxi services like Ola & TaxiForSure last month, after banning Uber for “misleading consumers” by plying taxis with All India permits which is not allowed while offering point-to-point travel services in the city. However, we are not quite sure how effective this ban has been, since several taxi services including Ola & TaxiForSure are still operating in New Delhi. Uber suspended its Delhi operations last month. The department said that licenses will be provided for a period of five and a half years, which can be further renewed to five years. Companies can apply for these licenses along with a license fee of Rs 25,000 and provide a bank guarantee of Rs 15 lakh upon receiving the license. Force-fitting cab aggregators with radio taxi players Some of the regulations include: - Maintaining a call center or operating through a call center or web portal. The taxis should have a mobile radio, web or mobile based two way communication system. - Maintaining an initial fleet of 50 taxis either owned or through an agreement with individual taxi permit holders, which has to be eventually increased to 200 taxis. Ensuring availability of parking space for all these taxis. - Mandatory installation of GPS and GPRS…
