K’taka suspends Ola’s licence for 6 months
Punitive Measure For Operating Bike Taxis
Bengaluru:
In a move that could affect thousands of cab users and drivers across Karnataka, the transport department has suspended Ola’s cab aggregator licence for six months, effective Friday night. This means the Bengaluru-based cab-aggregator will not be able to operate any of its services — cars, autos and bikes — across the state for the next six months. While Ola continued to operate its services, there were comparatively fewer vehicles in the city on Friday. Till late evening, cabs were still available on the app.
In Karnataka, Ola operates fleets in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Ballari, Belagavi and Kalaburagi. In 2016, Ola obtained the aggregator licence valid till June 19, 2021.
Calling the government notification “unfortunate”, Ola, in a statement, said, “Despite other companies continuing to operate illegally, we halted our bike taxi experiment weeks ago. Instead, we sought the state’s cooperation to develop a legal framework for a pilot project. We look forward to addressing these concerns directly with state officials.”
The government’s move came after Ola operated bike taxis in Bengaluru without taking permission from the department and several taxi drivers’ associations petitioned the department to take action against the firm.
The State Transport Authority (STA) issued a notice on March18 to ANI Technologies, which operates Ola cabs, to say the aggregator had violated the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016.
“The licence will be suspended for six months under Section 11(1) of the aggregator rules. We have asked them to suspend their services from Friday and surrender the licence,” said transport commissioner V P Ikkeri. He said there is no provision for the app-based aggregators to operate bike taxis under the rules.
“They were illegally operating bike taxis in Bengaluru in violation of rules. We’ve also seized several twowheelers used as Ola’s bike taxis” he added.
Punitive Measure For Operating Bike Taxis
Bengaluru:
In a move that could affect thousands of cab users and drivers across Karnataka, the transport department has suspended Ola’s cab aggregator licence for six months, effective Friday night. This means the Bengaluru-based cab-aggregator will not be able to operate any of its services — cars, autos and bikes — across the state for the next six months. While Ola continued to operate its services, there were comparatively fewer vehicles in the city on Friday. Till late evening, cabs were still available on the app.
In Karnataka, Ola operates fleets in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Ballari, Belagavi and Kalaburagi. In 2016, Ola obtained the aggregator licence valid till June 19, 2021.
Calling the government notification “unfortunate”, Ola, in a statement, said, “Despite other companies continuing to operate illegally, we halted our bike taxi experiment weeks ago. Instead, we sought the state’s cooperation to develop a legal framework for a pilot project. We look forward to addressing these concerns directly with state officials.”
The government’s move came after Ola operated bike taxis in Bengaluru without taking permission from the department and several taxi drivers’ associations petitioned the department to take action against the firm.
The State Transport Authority (STA) issued a notice on March18 to ANI Technologies, which operates Ola cabs, to say the aggregator had violated the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016.
“The licence will be suspended for six months under Section 11(1) of the aggregator rules. We have asked them to suspend their services from Friday and surrender the licence,” said transport commissioner V P Ikkeri. He said there is no provision for the app-based aggregators to operate bike taxis under the rules.
“They were illegally operating bike taxis in Bengaluru in violation of rules. We’ve also seized several twowheelers used as Ola’s bike taxis” he added.
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