Karnataka vs. Cab-Aggregators (Part II)
By Anupam Manur (@anupammanur)
In order to obtain a licence, cab-aggregators have to replace their present efficient technology with an outdated one. The requirements to obtain the licence are archaic and simply untenable.
In yet another blow to cab aggregator companies in Karnataka, the State Transport Department issued a statement asking cab aggregator companies which have not obtained the necessary licences to stop operations immediately. “Web-based aggregators had to obtain licences to operate cabs and taxis. But many aggregator companies have not obtained licences, but are operating such cabs. This is a gross violation under sec-93 r/w 193 of the Motor Vehicles Act. Hence, companies which have not obtained licences from the concerned authority should stop operations with immediate effect otherwise strict action will be taken against such operators,” the statement said.
It does feel a bit retrograde to ask companies to stop functioning for not having obtained the appropriate licence. It does remind one of the pre-1991 days. However, the immediate counterbalancing reaction would be to wonder why would the cab companies refuse to obtain a licence. What exactly is preventing them from getting a licence, which can keep them in business in their largest market — Bangalore. So, I wanted to know what does it entail to obtain a licence to continue as a cab aggregator.
This particular section (sec-93 r/w 193) of the Motor Vehicles Act specifies that “No person shall engage himself as an agent or a canvasser, in the sale of tickets for travel by public service vehicles or in otherwise soliciting customers for such vehicles, without a licence from the proper authorities”. This bit seems more relevant for KSRTC ticketing agents and not on-demand cab aggregators operating over a mobile app.
For further clarity, one needs to look at the The Karnataka on-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 20 I 6, which was released on 2nd April 2016. It starts off by quoting the original section 93 that a licence is required to operate as a cab aggregator and then goes on to specify the requirements for obtaining the licence.
The requirements are specified for the aggregator company, the driver, and the vehicle. The company has to pay a licensing fee of Rs.50,000; keep a security deposit of Rs.2,50,000; have a minimum of 100 cabs in their fleet, has facilities for monitoring the vehicles via GPS, etc. The driver should have a driver’s licence, minimum driving experience of two years, be a resident of Karnataka for a minimum period of two years and have a working knowledge of Kannada among other things.
All of these requirements seems fairly reasonable and should not act as an impediment for Ola or Uber to obtain a licence. It also seems that the regulators have understood how cab aggregators work, until of course, they get to the specification for the vehicle. When describing the requirements of the vehicles, the Act goes back to the classic 1970s Licensing Raj days. All cabs should be fitted with an yellow coloured display board with words “Taxi” visible both from the front and the rear. The board shall be capable of being illuminated during the night hours. The driver’s licence and photo should be displayed clearly in the vehicle. As of now, the app takes care of that.
The part of the Act that betrays the fact that the regulators temporarily time travelled to the 1970s is the demand for every vehicle to have a meter which displays the fare along with a printer that can provide a printed copy of the final amount to be paid along with the breakdown of the fare. While specifying this, they truly embraced red-tapism, in all its glory, and specified the font size for the bill to be printed in, print width, print speed, resolution, among other things. They have also given extremely detailed specifications of the GPS/GPRS capable vehicle tracking unit (including temperature range and humidity of the device).
Asking an app-based cab aggregator company to install a bill printing device in the car, a large display monitor that shows the route, fare, and other details, to have a taxi sign on top, etc seems to be retrospective in nature, since all of this is done more efficiently by the respective apps. By demanding Uber and Ola to obtain licences by adhering to these specifications is forcing them to replace their more efficient technology with an outdated one. By doing so, the regulators are only betraying their ignorance of how a cab-aggregator functions. I would strongly urge them to download the Ola app today, take a ride, understand how it works and then come up with regulations that wouldn’t throttle the businesses.
Anupam Manur is a Policy Analyst at the Takshashila Institution.
(Part I was regarding limiting Surge Pricing and can be found here).
