Chandigarh, November 17
To regulate fares of app-based cabs, the UT Administration has implemented the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines-2020, issued by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, with immediate effect.
With the implementation of the guidelines, the city taxis’ fare indexed by wholesale price index (WPI) for the current year will be the base cost chargeable to customers availing of the aggregator service.
As per the guidelines, the base minimum fare chargeable to customers will be for a minimum of 3 km to compensate for dead mileage and distance travelled and fuel utilised for picking up the customers. The aggregator will be allowed to charge fare 50% lower than the base fare and a maximum surge pricing of 1.5 times the base fare will allowed.
The cab driver will receive at least 80% of the fare applicable on each ride and the remaining charges for each ride will be received by the aggregator. A levy of 2% over and above the fare may be directed towards the state exchequer for amenities and programmes related for aggregator operated vehicles.
As per the guidelines, if the city taxi fare has not been determined by the state government, an amount of Rs 25/30 will be the base fare for the purpose of fare regulation.
For the purposes of motor cabs, fare regulation will only be applicable to motor cabs not exceeding four-metre length with capacity of below 1500cc diesel or petrol engine. Fare regulation will not be applicable to electric vehicles.
However, no passenger will be charged for dead mileage (except when the distance for availing of the ride is less than 3 km) and the fare will be charged only from the point of boarding to the point of alighting.
On cancellation of a booking by a driver, subsequent to accepting a ride on the app, a penalty of 10% of the total fare not exceeding Rs 100 can be imposed, when such cancellation is made with valid reason.
Similarly, on cancellation of a booking by a rider, a penalty of 10% of the total fare not exceeding Rs 100 will be imposed.
As per the State Transport Authority record, there are 1,700 Uber cabs, of which 459 are registered in Chandigarh and 1,241 in Punjab and Haryana. Similarly, of 2,317 Ola cabs, only 215 are registered in UT and the reaming 2,102 in Punjab and Haryana.
