Uber Refuses To Stop Ride-Sharing Service In Bengaluru
Uber claims car-pooling is legal in India.
Uber Technologies Inc’s ride-sharing service is “within the law” and the cab aggregator will not withdraw it from Karnataka, a senior company executive told BloombergQuint. The state transport department has deemed the service, UberPOOL, illegal.
The law permits a contract carriage permit holder to stop and pick up or set down passengers who are included in the contractual understanding with the driver. UberPOOL fulfills this requirement and we believe that it does not violate the contract carriage permit.Uber Spokesperson
The Karnataka state transport commissioner had on January 30 asked cab aggregators to stop ride-sharing services in the state, giving them three days to bring such offerings “in line with the law”. The aggregators were to stop car-pooling from Friday.
Uber has floated a public petition to garner support for its ride-sharing service in the state. The petition has received over 11,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
Speaking to BloombergQuint over the phone, Karnataka Transport Minister R Ramalinga Reddy reiterated that the ride-sharing service was “illegal” and the companies can’t offer it without permission.
No one is above the law and ride-hailing firms will have to take permission if they are doing something which is not in the purview of the law. We are also in favour of something which is in public interest but they have to take permission from the transport department, before offering such services.R Ramalinga Reddy, Karnataka Transport Minister
Reddy declined to comment on what action will be taken against Uber if the company did not withdraw car-pooling service in the state.
The state government argues that the Central Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 a contract carriage can only operate between one point to another and cannot pick and drop passengers in between.
Uber said the company will continue to engage with the transport department and the Karnataka government as ride-sharing products like UberPOOL are the future of urban mobility, helping decongest cities by getting more people into fewer cars and letting riders move around their city more affordably. “We have taken into account the concern expressed by the Transport Department and will be seeking to address them,” the company’s statement said.
Uber claimed that UberPOOL has prevented more than 93,64,772 kilometres of unnecessary driving, saved 4,40,623 litres of fuel since it launched the service in Bengaluru and has cut over 10,37,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions by offering shared rides.
An Ola spokesperson did not respond to a query on whether the company will stop Ola Share from Friday.