Delhi wants to #BringUberBack as Radio Uber. Nothing doing, says Uber (UPDATED)

The Delhi transport department has modified its rules to allow taxi aggregators to be licensed. This is meant to lift the ban imposed on taxi apps following the rape of a young woman in Delhi by an Uber driver with a criminal record. But the modified rules require Uber and others like local rival Ola to register as radio taxi companies, and Uber has responded with a swift NO.

Update: Uber told Tech in Asia over email:

Uber is not a radio taxi company, therefore the transport department’s amendments to the radio taxi scheme do not help us serve our riders and partner drivers in Delhi. It also does not accurately reflect the primary role that the Information Act 2000 plays in regulating intermediaries like Uber. We are committed to working with the government to develop regulations based on a shared commitment to safety and a vision for how technology can improve the transportation environment in major urban areas in India.

Uber and the Delhi transport authority held a meeting on Monday to discuss a new regulatory framework, keeping in mind the business model of on-demand taxi apps which have only come up in the last few years. Following this meeting, the transport department has notified a set of rules that come into effect immediately, enabling taxi aggregators to be licensed. This is actually a modified version of the Radio Taxi Scheme that was laid out in 2006 after the advent of radio-linked cab services like Meru. In essence, it asks Uber and others to register themselves as radio taxi service providers, while giving them some leeway to operate as aggregators rather than owners of large taxi fleets.

White cabs running on clean fuel

The rules stipulate that any licensed city taxi service, including Uber, will have to maintain a minimum fleet of 200 radio taxis, but these can be either owned directly or obtained through agreements with individual taxi permit holders. The fleet size can be just 50 at the start, and increased to 200 within six months.

The big change for Uber will be to convert into an aggregator of radio taxis. What this means is that all vehicles connected to the Uber app will have to be fitted with GPS-based tracking devices, which will be connected to a control center maintained by Uber. Just having a GPS tracking app on the driver’s smartphone won’t do.

To complete the conversion, the car has to be painted white with the insignia of Uber emblazoned on it. There will also be a taxi beacon on top just like any other regular cab, and it will have to run on clean fuel to minimize pollution, just as any other city taxi in Delhi. The driver will be uniformed, his transport authority badge and photo displayed prominently, and there will even be an electronic fare meter.

Uber has been on-boarding tourist vehicles with all-India permits. So it will have to persuade the owners of those vehicles to convert them into radio taxis with city permits.

From the ‘sharing economy’ to sharing liability

The unkindest cut of all, as far as Uber is concerned, is that the scheme requires it to accept the shared liability that comes with becoming a licensed taxi company, which has to abide by the Motor Vehicles Act, Companies Act, Information Technology Act, and other applicable laws.

As a taxi app, Uber claims it only connects drivers with customers without assuming liability for anything that goes wrong. This is now disputed by various authorities insisting that Uber be subjected to regulations, just like any taxi service.