BENGALURU: Opposing the ban on car-pooling apps, in his letter to Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, on October 1, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya pointed out that the ban is detrimental to the interests of the city and it will only make the traffic congestion worse. This letter has triggered a hornet’s nest as private cab operators are vehemently opposing Surya’s stand.
Opposing Surya’s stand on the issue, the cab operators said that instead of taking other measures to curb traffic jams in Bengaluru, the MP is insisting on legalising car-pooling and added that it has eaten into their rightful revenue.
Speaking to TNIE, Nataraj Sharma, President of Karnataka State Private Transport Associations said, “Private white-board vehicles which are purchased for their own-use are not allowed to car pool. Asking the state government to make an illegal service legal, just indicates how unaware about the law our legislator and a practising lawyer is.”
“A yellow-board cab driver pays around Rs 5,000 road tax every quarter. Along with this he pays for permit, gets fitness certificate and his driver badge is renewed as per the law. However, the white-board vehicle users get the vehicle for personal use, link it with some car-pooling app, and both earn money, which is illegal. They pretend that they are doing this only to reduce traffic congestion in the city,” he explained.
As a legislator, Surya is in favour of private companies. But does he know that the rightful revenue of the private cab drivers are taken away under the guise of car pooling? Is he aware of the problems faced by nearly two lakh cab operators in the city? His support to the private car pooling companies only leads to suspicion that they are funding his elections, said Sharma.
Tanveer Pasha, President of Ola and Uber Drivers Association opposed Surya’s stand and pointed that it is illegal and transport department itself had started to crackdown on them by slapping fines upto Rs 10,000 and suspending the registration certificate of the vehicle for six months.
Radhakrishna Holla, President of Karnataka State Travel Operators’ Association said, “There is no report to substantiate that car pooling will help reduce traffic significantly. Government must improve public transport and work on the road infrastructure to curb traffic. When the population of Bengaluru was 80 lakh, Bengaluru’s lifeline BMTC’s fleet was at around 5,000 buses and now even after the population is nearing 1.4 crore it’s the same.”
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Traffic experts echoed a similar sentiment, saying traffic congestion can be eased by investing heavily in public transport including BMTC, Metro and suburban rail.
Transport department officials said that individuals using their white board vehicles for car-pooling, and using it for monetary benefits is illegal. It attracts action that includes fines upto Rs 10,000 and suspension of registration certificate. To decide on the fate of the car-pooling in Bengaluru, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has called for a meeting of car-pooling app operators on Tuesday. TNIE tried to get in touch with Tejasvi Surya for his comment, however, he was not available.