Over a month after a ban following rape allegations against one of its drivers in the national Capital, US taxi-hailing app maker Uber Technologies Inc has been allowed to run private taxi in Delhi.
Uber’s app showed taxis available in New Delhi on Friday after the company applied for a radio taxi licence. Delhi Government’s Transport Department has granted permission to Uber cab service in this regard. US-based Uber Technologies on January 21 has applied to become a licenced radio taxi operator and will hire only drivers who passed police background checks recently. Meanwhile transport officials say that the company is still blacklisted. “They can’t start operations,” said a senior transport official on condition of anonymity.
The company has sought licence under a programme that requires operators to install satellite tracking devices and use a central control room. Uber had till now insisted that it was a technology service connecting drivers with potential riders and not a taxi company. Interestingly, Uber Technologies was running from Faridabad, having only six employees in India. Delhi Government was in favour of banning Uber as it was not registered with the Transport Department. To bring back Uber cabs, Delhi Government’s Transport Department has formulated new rules, making mandatory for cabs to register with the Transport Department, install global positioning system (GPS) and obtain necessary permits to ply in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Commercially registered, but private-owned cabs with All India Permits would not be allowed to ply in the Capital like they could earlier. This decision was taken as the Uber cab driver who allegedly raped the MNC executive earlier in December of last year had an All India Permit instead of an NCR permit. Apart from these guidelines, the new rules will also necessitate that those operating cab services in Delhi provide the complete database of their drivers to the police. Under the old rules, no responsibility lay on the companies operating the cabs. But, the new laws will ensure that they take complete responsibility of the driver’s behaviour.
Uber has made it clear while applying the licence that it will hire drivers who had their background checked by police within six weeks before their applications. Also, it would conduct independent background checks for all its drivers as well as review vehicle documentation to ensure rider safety. Besides, additional safety features such as an in-app emergency button and a dedicated incident-response team nationwide would be set up.
Uber was barred from operating in the national Capital after a 26-year-old executive was allegedly raped by a driver of the taxi hired by her using the firm’s app on December 6, 2014. India is Uber’s largest market outside the US.
The service restoration comes as Uber works to counter bans in countries such as France, Spain, Thailand and South Korea, imposed because some of its drivers were not correctly licenced. It has also had to contend with a reputation tarnished by further rape allegations against drivers in Chicago and Boston.