TALE OF TWO PERMITS
Technology may be an enabler for bus and taxi aggregators but despite an amended law in the making, companies such as Ola, Shuttl, Zipgo, and even Uber have faced a clampdown by the local and state governments. It is their bus shuttle and polled taxi services that have lately been facing the heat.
The problem arose out of government officials reading the rule book to these companies on the kind of permit they should be operating under. On the face of it, the issue appears to be more procedural since these services are catering for the ever-growing working population, which finds them more affordable than conventional taxis. It is also believed that since bus aggregators eat into the business of government-owned transport corporations, the state transport undertakings work behind the scenes to lobby against these services.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, for instance, had influenced the transport department to stop shuttle services in the city since they were impacting its revenue in high-value areas. Officials in the Delhi government, however, say that vehicles running under these platforms wrongly operate under the contract carriage permits. The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, defines contract carriage as a motor vehicle that carries a passenger or passengers for hire or reward. It is engaged “under a contract, whether expressed or implied, for the use of such vehicle as a whole for the carriage of passengers mentioned therein and entered into by a person Section 2 ofthe Motor Vehicles Act CONTRACT CARRIAGE
A motor vehicle which carries passengers for hire or reward and is engaged under a contract
Such vehicle as a whole carries specified passengers under the contract on a fixed or an agreed rate
Contract, if on basis of time whether or not with reference to any route or distance
Vehicle moves from one point to another, and in either case, without stopping to pick up or set down passengers not included in the contract STAGE CARRIAGE
A motor vehicle constructed or adapted to carry more than six passengers, excluding the driver for hire or reward
Fares paid separately for individual passengers, either for the whole journey or for stages of the journey with a holder of a permit in relation to such vehicle or any person authorised by him in this behalf on a fixed or an agreed rate”. The existence of a contract, along with the names of passengers, is what primarily differentiates it from the stage carriage permit, which allows carrying more than six passengers.
Besides, contract carriage is hired for a period with or without reference to a particular route or distance. It moves from one point