D-Day for Uber in India ahead of meeting with Delhi transport authority

Uber is today meeting the transport authority in Delhi, where it was banned earlier this month after the rape of a young woman by a driver with a criminal record.

Uber and the Delhi Transport Department are expected to discuss a regulatory framework for taxi aggregators, who have argued that city taxi licensing rules don’t take into account their business model. Uber has launched a digital campaign on its local blog, appealing to people to petition the transport department in support of its stand.

The last time new rules were made was in 2006 when the Radio Taxi Scheme was rolled out for radio-linked cab services like those of Meru. Basically, that would entail relaxation of norms on fleet size, license fees, and other regulations – which were made before the advent of taxi apps.

On Uber’s part, it may have to get GPS-based tracking devices fitted on all vehicles it on-boards to its app. All its drivers may be required to get transport department badges, which will be displayed prominently along with photographs just like in regular taxis.

The more contentious issues will be in the use of tourist vehicles with all-India permits as city taxis. Uber has been doing this so far. One way out would be for the owners of these vehicles to get them registered as city cabs too, but a prerequisite for that would have to be a change in rules on license fees and fleet size. Another grey area is the stipulation in Delhi and other metropolitan cities that all public transport vehicles run on CNG (compressed natural gas) to curb pollution. Conversion of spanking new sedans to run on CNG would be an expensive proposition.

Another India first for Uber: local customer support centers

Uber says on its blog that it has already started putting in place new safety measures in India. One of these is a “Share my ETA” feature on its app to let riders pass on live GPS tracking and driver/vehicle details to friends or family. India will also be the first country where it will have local customer support centers to resolve critical issues for riders or drivers. It gives no details, however, on the size or capacity of these centers and their ability to track and respond to emergencies.

Uber also says it is running pilot programs with unnamed “local and global experts” to come up with more effective screening of drivers in India. At the same time, it claims to be “re-verifying” the authenticity of the police verification of all its drivers and vehicle owners.

The problem here is that the police verification in India is hardly reliable. The driver arrested for the rape in Delhi had a character certificate from a local police station, although he had a stack of criminal cases registered against him in a different police jurisdiction covering his village in Uttar Pradesh. Without digitization of police records and a database of known offenders, Uber and transport licensing authorities alike are left shooting in the dark.

Ecommerce companies like Flipkart, who employ delivery men all over the country, are equally vulnerable in the absence of such a central repository of criminal records for background checking.

See: After a year of amazing highs and terrible lows, will 2015 bring taxi apps a license to ride in India?