A huge relief for Uber and Ola in Delhi is the State Govt’s new plan!

At a time when cab services in Delhi are in a complete fuss, the AAP led Delhi govt seem to have attempted to ease the deadlock. Keeping in mind the court’s verdict to stay a ban on taxi aggregator service Ola, the government has introduced a new 'City Taxi Scheme', opening up another window for mobile app-based taxi aggregators to come under the legal framework and register themselves for continuing operations in the national capital.

Understanding the fact that the ban on radio cabs is creating a scarcity in taxi services and eventually resulting in suffering of the general public, the government has proposed to amalgamate the existing schemes for radio taxis with the new scheme. Once brought under the new scheme, Ola and Uber cabs, which are facing ban, would be legal to ply.

"The rules this time have been finetuned and improved upon for all taxi service providers. The scheme should be operational in the next couple of days, once the minutes of the (transport) authority (meeting) are released," said a senior government official.

There were many problems with implementation of the radio taxi scheme. Many operators could not create their own control rooms," the government official informed the financial daily.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai on Monday announced the scheme, saying that all taxis would come under a single scheme, save for the 'black and yellow' taxis and those operating long distances under 'All India Tourist Permit' (AITP).

For him, the main selling point of the scheme is the provision to include small cars such as Reva and Nano for last-mile connectivity outside metro stations. "For riding in smaller taxis with engines between 600cc and 749cc, a fare of Rs 10 per km will be applicable," he said.
While the previous scheme demanded setting up of centralised 24-7 operated consumer call centre, this scheme wouldn’t need anything of that sort.

However, the cut throat competition between app based taxi hailing services may come down as the new rule states an operator can have a maximum fleet of 2,500 taxis.

Ola claims to have more than 25,000 cabs registered with it in the National Capital Region while Uber has an estimated 15,000 vehicles on its platform. They also offer heavily discounted fares to expand market share, and may find government-set prices detrimental to their plans.
Another transport department official said, "We have also limited the number of taxis one can aggregate or own for a city taxi licence to 2,500 to avoid monopoly. Companies operating over 2,500 cabs can apply by creating newer subsidiaries. However, AITP vehicles will not be allowed under this scheme as these are for tourist purposes only and not city transportation."