New Delhi: If you too think twice before traveling by cabs during peak hours due to price surges, this news is for you. Cabs like Ola and Uber will not double their price in those crucial hours, at least after this policy for app-based taxi services is enacted by the Delhi government.
The cab policy prepared by the Kejriwal govt. has no provision for surge pricing. Also, the cab-sharing feature shall continue with the condition of providing the co-passenger’s details.
In the draft policy of 2022, there was a provision of up to 2.5 times raise in the base fare but after strong intervention of the tourism minister, it has been removed from the final draft.
After the release of the cab policy notification, companies will be given a span of 90 days to furnish the details of their drivers and licences. All app-based taxi services will have to run a 24×7 control room and if there are three complaints against a cab driver, its cognizance has to be taken along with strict actions.
Also, the details of any ride can’t be diluted before three months.
A few points that have been added in the draft for passenger safety are:
- Before starting a ride, not just an OTP but a verification to confirm if the driver is the same as mentioned during booking would be required.
- If the driver changes the route or diverts for whatsoever reason, the alert for the same will be raised to the control room.
- A report against a complaint from the passenger has to be submitted within 24 hours and if there’s a criminal complaint, the driver should not be allowed to continue until it gets resolved.
- GPS, panic button and fire extinguisher should be available in all the cabs.