Uber and Ola defy government orders, continue carpooling in Karnataka

With the three days deadline given to Uber and Ola to stop their pool services terming them illegal, both Uber India and Ola Cabs have defied the Karnataka Transport Department order and continued to offer these services on their respective portals.

According to an Uber spokesperson, UberPool fulfills all requirements that allows for shared services to run in perfect harmony with the laws in the country.

"Any contract carriage permit holder can stop to pick up or drop passengers who are included in the contractual understanding with the driver and UberPool fulfills this requirement. Hence, it does not violate the contract carriage permit in any way," he told ET.

In conjunction with this, the company has also started a public petition online urging users in Bangalore to support UberPOOL.

With an aim to reach out to 50,000 users who support the cab aggregator's pool services in Bangalore, the number stood at 18,033 at the time of publishing.

"The recent expert committee report on Urban Mobility which has been accepted by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways expressly recommends and recognises seat sharing in taxis as eco-friendly and being a cheap transportation option," the Uber spokesperson said. "We will continue to engage with the government on this issue," he told ET.

Earlier, MK Aiyappa, Commissioner for Transport and Road Safety said that the cab aggregators collect fare for ride-sharing services, which is against the permit conditions. We are, however, not against carpooling by private car-owners as far as it does not involve exchange of money. If any driver is found continuing ride-sharing services from Friday, we will take action.

He also added that cab aggregators did not submit a memorandum - seeking modification of the Karnataka Motor Vehicle Rules, in order to accommodate ride-sharing in the contract carriage permit - in the last three days.

"Had I got the respresentation, I would have forwarded it to the Government," he told ET.

Uber and Ola, two popular cab aggregators launched shared cab services in Bengaluru in 2015.