HYDERABAD: Ever wondered why so many two-wheeler taxi riders break traffic laws so brazenly? Many of them don’t own the vehicles they ride, and hence, don’t have to pay the fines for their violations. The onus of paying e-challans falls on the owner of the vehicle, not on the rider.
“It doesn’t matter if I break the rules, as challans are not issued to me. After making enough money for the day, I return the bike, and the rental provider doesn’t check for challans,” said a college student who is registered with a popular two-wheeler taxi services company. He pays Rs 300 to rent a bike, and uses it to make between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 per day.
Though the traffic police do not maintain a registry of e-challans issued based on the type of vehicle - commercial or personal - officials observe that a lot of vehicles impounded for having multiple pending challans belong to taxi operators.
“Be it two-wheelers or cars on rent, a lot of vehicles towed to our stations have long-pending challans,” said an inspector of the Hyderabad Traffic Police. An increasing number of people being caught for traffic violations are those who operate taxis, added Cyberabad DCP Vijay Kumar.
“We have received representations from cab aggregators themselves, asking us not to penalise the owners as they rent out their vehicles to drivers. But it is up to the owners to settle such issues with the drivers,” he said, adding that if the owners don’t pay up, they could be charge-sheeted.