Karnataka Govt bans OLA Taxi and Bike services for 6 months

Bengaluru (Urban Transport News): Karnataka Government suspended Ola’s license to operate Cabs and Bikes in the state for six months after the cab aggregator failed to comply with an order to suspend “illegal” two-wheeler and taxi services in the Bengaluru. According to Ola officials, they would work with officials to resolve the matter. Transport Department of Govt. of Karnataka has sent a letter to Ola parent ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd on March 18 and ordered the company to suspend all operations, including four-wheeler cabs, within the next three days. “As ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates Ola, has violated the Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016, their aggregator license — which was issued for a period up to June 2021 — remains suspended,” said in the letter issued to the company. Transport commissioner VP Ikkeri confirmed the development and said that if Ola will violate the latest suspension order, the department would begin seizing cabs and penalizing drivers attached to its platform. “This notification is unfortunate, and we look forward to an opportunity to address these concerns directly with state officials to find a solution for our driver-partners and millions of Ola users in Karnataka,” Ola official said in a statement. Earlier on February 15, the state transport department had issued a notice to Ola, warning the company that it would suspend its aggregator license if it did not comply with the ban on bike taxis. The Transport department had seized more than 400 bike taxis attached to Ola and rival Rapido. “Despite other companies continuing to operate illegally, Ola halted its bike taxi experiment weeks ago, instead of seeking the state’s cooperation to develop a legal framework for a pilot,” said in the letter. “We are evaluating all options to find an amicable solution wherein hundreds of thousands of driver-partners in the state of Karnataka can continue to work and serve the mobility needs of our citizens”, said in a statement. "Bengaluru is also its single largest market in the country. The city is estimated to have 120,000 cabs, out of which around 65,000 operate on the Uber and Ola platforms interchangeably", state authorities and experts said. This isn’t the first run-in for a ride-hailing firm with the Karnataka State Transport authorities. The Government had banned Uber in December 2014 following the rape of a woman passenger by her cab driver in Delhi. “Revoking Ola’s license is immaterial because executing that order on the ground is very hard,” said Siddhartha Pahwa, former CEO of Meru Cabs and an independent transport sector expert.