Cab aggregators may soon need licence to operate in Delhi

The Delhi Motor Vehicles Rules, 2022, will be binding on ride-hailing companies, door-to-door delivery firms, e-commerce companies and other aggregators, and there will be provision of fines and licence suspension.

Taxi-hailing services like Ola and Uber and aggregators for all kinds of delivery services may soon have to get a licence to operate in the Capital, have a system of addressing customer grievances, and share details of drivers and vehicles with the transport department under new motor vehicle rules in the offing, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

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The Delhi Motor Vehicles Rules, 2022, will be binding on ride-hailing companies, door-to-door delivery firms, e-commerce companies and other aggregators, and there will be provision of fines and licence suspension, the officials said. Cab aggregators and delivery services will also be mandated to have only electric vehicles by 2030, according to the proposed rules, they said.

“Delhi is going to be the first state to make rules for regulating the aggregators providing passenger transport and delivery services of good and commodities, including last-mile delivery in the city,” Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot said on Tuesday. “Several meetings, including stakeholder consultations, have been held and the rules are in the final stage.”

These rules are expected to come into effect early next year. No decision has yet been taken whether there will also be rules to regulate fares of the cab-hailing services, said a transport department official, declining to be named.

The Delhi government currently only regulates the fares of metered taxies and autos.

HT reached out to cab aggregators Ola and Uber for comments on the move by the Delhi government, but no response was available at the time of going to press.

The Delhi government can make the rules under the Motor Vehicles Act, which will be put up before the state cabinet for approval. The file will then be sent to the lieutenant governor for approval, following which the rules can be notified and implemented.

The transport department had drafted the Delhi Motor Aggregator Scheme in July this year. The Delhi government has now decided to make rules which will be binding with punitive measures. In the draft scheme, the transport department had proposed fixing a base fare and surge pricing control that would not exceed twice the base fare.

After the rules are notified, all ride aggregators who run a fleet of more than 50 vehicles will have to mandatorily get a licence from the transport department, the official said.

The framing of rules was required to ensure better experience to customers and check the contribution of the ride aggregators and delivery services to capital’s pollution load, besides improving safety and service quality, transport commissioner Ashish Kundra said.

“In the public mobility field, digital intermediaries have opened up a new space for mobility. The space is flooded with ride-hailing companies, doorstep delivery companies, e-commerce companies and others. Currently, they are beyond the regulatory framework,” Kundra said. “Though they have generated employment and improved public transport facilities, they have also added a large number of vehicles in the Capital, and have made a huge contributions to the vehicular pollution load.”

Delhi has over 150,000 vehicles plying under different cab aggregators, but it is mostly a floating number as these vehicles keep moving between Delhi and its satellite towns such as Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, according to estimates by the transport department.

“Delhi is committed to make the city cleaner and safer for its citizens. The aggregator rules are focussed towards gradually converting the vehicle fleet to 100% electric, reducing vehicular pollution to nil in the coming years,” minister Gahlot said. “In addition, these rules will also help in bringing more accountability of the aggregators towards the safety of the passengers and goods being delivered.”

Amit Bhatt, managing director, India of the International Council in Clean Transportation, said, “Transport emissions are major source of local pollution in Delhi, and ride-hailing services and delivery services vehicles travel much more than personal vehicles. Therefore, mandating them to go electric will not only be beneficial for Delhi but can get a benchmark for the rest of the country.”