The Delhi transport department has modified its rules to allow taxi aggregators like Uber and its main local rival Ola to be licensed. This in effect lifts the ban imposed on taxi apps following the rape of a young woman in Delhi by an Uber driver with a criminal record. But the modified rules come with so many riders that it may take a while before Uber cabs return to Delhi roads. Uber has offered no comment so far on the new rules, as the matter is also sub-judice.
Uber and the Delhi transport authority held a meeting on Monday to discuss a new regulatory framework, keeping in mind the business model of taxi aggregators which have only come up in the last few years. Following this meeting, the transport department has notified a set of rules that come into effect immediately, enabling taxi aggregators to be licensed. This is actually a modified version of the Radio Taxi Scheme that was laid out in 2006 after the advent of radio-linked cab services like Meru. In essence, it asks Uber and others to register themselves as radio taxi service providers, while giving them some leeway to let them continue to operate as aggregators rather than owners of large taxi fleets.
White cabs running on clean fuel
The rules do stipulate that any licensed city taxi service, including Uber, will have to maintain a minimum fleet of 200 radio taxis, but these can be either owned directly or obtained through agreements with individual taxi permit holders. The fleet size can be just 50 at the start, and increased to 200 within six months.
The big change for Uber will be to convert into an aggregator of radio taxis. What this means is that all vehicles connected to the Uber app will have to be fitted with GPS-based tracking devices, which will be connected to a control center maintained by Uber. Just having a GPS tracking app on the driver’s smartphone won’t do.
To complete the conversion, the car has to be painted white with the insignia of Uber emblazoned on it. There will also be a taxi beacon on top just like any other regular cab, and it will have to run on clean fuel to minimise pollution, just as any other city taxi in Delhi. The driver will be uniformed, his transport authority badge and photo displayed prominently, and there will even be an electronic fare meter.
Uber has been on-boarding tourist vehicles with all-India permits. Now it will have to persuade the owners of those vehicles to convert them into radio taxis with city permits. How many choose to do that remains to be seen, but there will be a strong incentive because Uber had proved very profitable for them, until the ban.
From the ‘sharing economy’ to sharing liability
If Uber goes along with the new rules, it will be a first for this poster boy of the sharing economy which has been thumbing its nose at regulators in city after city around the world. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has said on more than one occasion that it’s just a software connecting riders with drivers and can’t be saddled with the responsibilities of regular taxi services. But regulators are no longer buying this.
Besides, India is a different kettle of fish. It has been just a little over a year since Uber started out as a luxury service. Since then, it has launched the more affordable UberX compact sedans, followed by the even cheaper UberGo small cars. India is already Uber’s largest market outside the US, and the potential for growth is enormous in a large country with a huge population and abysmal urban public transport.
Before its meeting with the transport authority, Uber had launched a social media campaign to drum up support for making a comeback. And it had already committed to setting up local customer support centers which will be equipped for live GPS tracking of all its cabs. Now the billion dollar question is whether it will accept the shared liability that comes with becoming a licensed taxi company which has to abide by the Motor Vehicles Act, Companies Act, Information Technoogy Act, and other applicable laws.
Looks like Uber as we knew it in 2014 may disappear from India. The new year may well see the dawn of a Radio Uber.
This post Delhi opens gate for Uber… provided it converts to a ‘Radio Uber’ appeared first on Tech in Asia.
Delhi opens gate for Uber… provided it converts to a ‘Radio Uber’
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