NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday gave more headroom to vehicle aggregators such as Uber, Ola, inDrive and Rapido on surge pricing. In a set of guidelines on ride-hailing services, the road transport ministry allowed aggregators to charge up to twice the base fare, as against 1.5 times earlier, while leaving the non-peak hour charges at not less than 50% of the base fare. States have been advised to adopt the revised guidelines within three months. The idea is to ensure that consumers are not burdened during periods of surge in traffic, while ensuring that aggregators do not undercut competition by offering steep discounts.On cancellation of a booking by a driver after accepting a journey on the app, a penalty of 10% of the fare, with a cap of Rs 100, will be imposed when the ride is cancelled without a specified reason. Such a penalty will be split between the driver and the aggregator. Similarly, when a passenger cancels a booking on the app, a similar fee will be collected.Aggregators have been mandated to ensure that drivers have health and term insurance of at least Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, respectively.The new guidelines specify that state govts will notify the base fare for different categories of vehicles, including auto-rickshaws and bike taxis, which have been brought under the ambit of the policy. For example, while the base fare for taxi in Delhi and Mumbai are in the range of Rs 20-21 a km, in Pune it is Rs 18. In cases where the states have not fixed the base fare, aggregators have been asked to notify the base fare to the state govt.The guidelines specify no passenger will be charged for dead mileage, except when the distance for availing the ride is less than 3 km, and the fare will be charged only from the point of origin of the journey to the destination.For safety of passengers, the Centre has specified that the aggregator must ensure vehicle location and tracking devices (VLTDs) are installed in vehicles and the feed is received by it as well as linked to integrated command and control centre of the state govt.The aggregators will also conduct an annual refresher training. The guidelines also specified that drivers whose rating falls below five percentile from amongst all drivers in terms of duration of engagement with the aggregator, will compulsorily undergo refresher training every quarter. If such drivers fail to do so, they won’t be allowed to continue through the aggregator.
