Women get ride pooling option with other female passengers

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Chandigarh, November 18

Taking into consideration the safety of women while sharing app-based cabs, women will get an option to share the ride with other female passengers only.

According to the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines – 2020, implemented in the UT, aggregators may provide pooling facilities to riders whose details and KYC are available and who will be travelling along the same route but with varied stoppages from one point to another under a virtual contract through the app.

Female passengers seeking to avail ride pooling will also be provided the option to pool only with other female passengers. However, pooling facilities will be available within certain kms of detour from the route assigned to be undertaken for a destination specified by the first rider in such vehicle.

The UT Administration may relax the detour specifications in order to provide accessibility in urban agglomerations and areas beyond the limits of the Municipal Corporation.

For the safety of passengers, aggregators will ensure appropriate functioning of the GPS installed in the vehicle and provide efficient resolution for any issues that may develop in its functioning. They will also have to ensure that the driver plies the vehicle on the route assigned on the app and in non-compliance of the same, develop a mechanism wherein the app device indicates the fault to the driver and the control room of the aggregator immediately communicates with the driver with regard to the same.

Ensuring the safety of women employees and drivers, the aggregator will have to introduce mechanisms to protect their rights in compliance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

Also, the aggregator will have to enforce a mechanism on the app to ensure that the identity of the driver undertaking a trip is same as the one enlisted with the aggregator requiring verification every time a trip is accepted.

Aggregator will have to ensure that the data generated on the app is stored on a server in India and that such stored data will be for a minimum of three months and a maximum of 24 months from the date on which such data is generated. This data shall be made available to the government as per the due process of law. Any data related to customers shall not be disclosed without the written consent of the customer.

Guidelines silent on parking of cabs in city

However, the guidelines are silent on the parking of cabs in the city. These app-based cabs could be seen parked by the roadside which disrupt the normal traffic. Residents have been demanding that these cab operators should be directed to park their vehicle at designated places only.

On the implementation of the guidelines in the city, the Tricity Cab Association felt that the guidelines were not favourable to the cab drivers and the policy was framed in keeping in mind the interests of aggregators.

Vikram Singh, president of the association, said the aggregation of non-transport vehicles by aggregators in the policy was a jolt to the taxi operators. Instead of increasing the fare, the government has introduced private vehicles which should be stopped.

“It is wrong to give legal validity to private vehicles to ferry passengers in the name of sharing. Private vehicles, which were operating illegally, will now start running openly, due to which the owners and drivers of commercial vehicles, who pay taxes, will suffer huge losses and at the same time, the government will also suffer a huge loss in the revenue,” he said, and demanded that the Ministry of Transport withdraws this decision.

All app-based vehicles have inbuilt GPS and the SOS button in the app itself, which provides equal protection to both passengers and drivers. Pressing this button in an emergency provides live location and police help immediately. Therefore, there is no need to install GPS separately for app-based vehicles. On base fare, they demanded that the UT should implement the fare policy and they should be protected from exploitation from aggregators.

App should be accessible in English, Hindi

As per the guidelines, the app shall be formulated in a manner that is compliant with the applicable law. The app shall be accessible in English and Hindi as the primary languages for the rider along with one official language of the relevant state where the official language is not Hindi. Additionally, the app shall be accessible in such language that is understandable by the driver.