The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued new guidelines to regulate cabin aggregators such as Ola and Uber and also set a limit for price increases, meeting a frequent demand from users of all these mobility aggregators.
According to the guidelines, the driver of a vehicle attached to the aggregator will receive at least 80% of the applicable fare on each trip and the aggregator will receive the remaining charges for each trip. The guidelines further added that the aggregator may charge a rate 50% lower than the base rate and a maximum price increase of 1.5X of the base rate.
The new guidelines are expected to solve common problems faced by passengers who have complained about rising prices and lack of regulation for cabin aggregators.
In case of canceling a trip, a fee of 10% of the total fare has been set not to exceed Rs 100 for both passengers and drivers when a cancellation is made without a valid reason as stipulated by the aggregator in their website and in-app.
The main objective of the new guidelines is to regulate shared mobility and reduce traffic congestion and pollution, in addition to facilitating business activity, customer safety and the well-being of drivers, the ministry said in its press release.
It is worth noting that the Ministry of Transportation has already amended the 1988 Motor Vehicle Act by the 2019 Motor Vehicle Amendment Act to include the definition of the term ‘aggregator’. The amended law defines aggregators as digital intermediaries or markets between passengers and drivers for transportation.
The ministry has also published a new rule for a carpool model in which a maximum of four carpool trips within the city will be allowed in one day and a maximum of 2 carpool trips between cities per week for one vehicle. . attached with an aggregator.
Ola and Uber’s ride-sharing and carpool models have been badly affected since the Covid-19 pandemic hit India.
To ensure data localization, aggregators are also instructed that the data generated in their application is stored on a server in India. According to the new guideline, the data stored will be for a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 24 months from the date such data is generated, and that the data will be made available to the state government according to due process. legal. .
