Ola, Uber Cab Services Banned In Pune District
Tikam Shekhawat
Pune, 13th March 2024: The Regional Transport Authority in Pune, under the leadership of District Collector Suhas Diwse, has taken a significant step by prohibiting Ola and Uber from operating their cabs within the Pune Region.
This decision comes as a result of the cab aggregators’ failure to comply with the guidelines outlined in the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines Act of 2020. Effective immediately, the order aims to enforce adherence to regulations for the City Cabs.
Despite the ban, Ola and Uber have the opportunity to challenge this order by submitting an appeal with the ‘State Transport Appellate Tribunal’ within a period of 30 days.
However, effective today this decision would cause inconvenience to the over 4 lakh passengers who regularly rely on these services for their daily commute.
Sanjeev Bhor, the Regional Transport Officer, highlighted the reasons behind the ban, citing the cab companies’ non-compliance with essential requirements under Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines Act of 2020. Some basic requirements are driver training, ensuring 2 years of driving experience for drivers, and a must insurance coverage. He emphasized that the decision was a necessary measure taken to uphold regulatory standards.
With approximately over 1 lakh AC cabs registered with various aggregators in the Pune Region, the impact of this ban is expected to be significant.
Despite the dominance of a few top aggregators in the market, the problem don’t seem to be get resolved in next couple of days. At other side, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) is facing challenges in managing the workload associated with implementing the ban. People & passengers are saying by non-complying of the rules, the cab aggregators are playing with the law of land and it seems they have got nothing to do with cab drivers or passengers, there focus is limited to making profits only.
According to officials, RTO team is making an effort to minimize inconvenience to passengers, particularly school children, students, and senior citizens.
Mohan Patil, a regular passenger, expressed concern over the potential inconvenience caused by the ban. As a result of this decision, commuters across Pune are likely to face difficulties in finding alternative modes of transportation for their local travel needs.
