GPS to be made mandatory for taxis, buses

With an aim to provide safe and secure journey for passengers in private taxis and private passenger buses, the transport department would soon make GPS installation mandatory while procuring licence for operating vehicles. Taxis and passenger buses would be provided with registration only after the installation of Global Positioning System (GPS). At present GPS installation is not mandatory according to the Motor Vehicle Act and due to which the private travel agencies obtain license and operate their vehicles without installing GPS. The State Transport Commissioner Shailendra Shrivastava said that the process of making the GPS a compulsion under Motor Vehicle Act is under process and after the inclusion of installation all the private cab and passengers would have to comply by the rules.

The monitoring system should be strengthened to track the vehicles during the emergencies and criminal activities as it has been observed that the use of vehicles in wrong doings has been increased in the past few years and in the past few months the frequency of the criminal activities, he added. Serious concerns were raised regarding safety issues of woman passengers after the Delhi Uber Cab case and after the matter came highlighted the Transport minister issued orders to install GPS in all passenger buses and private taxis, but no such clause was present in the Motor Vehicle Act due to which the orders could be implemented. The benefit of installing GPS would be the ease with which the vehicles could be tracked. In case of emergencies it would be a boon for the rescue team and the biggest benefit would be curbing of criminal activities which has been lacking due to proper monitoring system.