Over 80% taxis of Uber, Ola 'unfit': Delhi Govt

Most drivers do not have permits to operate in Delhi. Instead they have All India permits, says Gopal Rai

The Delhi government today said that over 80 per cent taxis of two app-based cab aggregators, Ola Cabs and Uber, were found "unfit" to operate in the national capital.

Last month, the government had directed both the taxi aggregators to submit details of their drivers and vehicles if they wanted to "regularise" their services in the city.

"We verified the data provided by Uber and Ola Cabs and found that 80-85 per cent of their vehicles were unfit. Most did not have permits to operate in Delhi. Instead they have All India permits or belong to neighbouring states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh.

"Many of the vehicles also turned out to be diesel-run which is against the rules laid down by the transport department," Transport Minister Gopal Rai told PTI.

The Minister said that as per data, there are around 10,000 taxis of Uber and 8,000 of Ola Cabs.

Rai also said that drivers attached with Uber and Ola Cabs are being "misused" by them as most of them possess All India Permits which is against the norms.

"Most drivers, who are attached with Ola Cabs and Uber, have All India permits. That's why they cannot run their vehicles on local routes. But the two taxi aggregators are making them run cabs in Delhi and in view of this, they are misusing them," Rai said.

On June 4, the Delhi transport department had rejected fresh applications for licence by US-based taxi booking firm Uber and two other such service providers Ola and TaxiForSure.

According to the government, applications of the three taxi aggregators were rejected for not filing undertakings stating they were complying with a ban imposed on them. The three operators had filed the applications under the modified Radio Taxi Scheme introduced five months ago.

Yesterday, Delhi High Court refused to grant any interim relief to Uber on its plea challenging rejection of application for licence to operate in the national capital, saying that it was not supposed to ply if it did not have any permit.