Govt Plans To Lift Bar On Shared Taxis

New Delhi: Delhi govt plans to reintroduce shared taxi services to tackle rising traffic congestion and vehicular pollution.The move, expected to primarily benefit office goers, aims at ensuring fewer cars ply on the roads without compromising on commuter comfort, safety or affordability, govt officials said, adding that changes will be made in the aggregator policy.

Shared-ride facilities used to be available before being withdrawn owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.Govt is also pushing app-based aggregators to prioritise electric vehicles in their fleets and promote environment-friendly services. Discussions are underway to explore the integration of private electric vehicles (EVs) into taxi services and expand the share of EVs in the city’s fleet of taxis, the officials said.CM Rekha Gupta said on Friday that govt will soon hold a meeting with companies like Ola and Uber to work out the modalities for restarting the shared cab service and improving passenger convenience.The core objective of govt’s transport policy is to reduce vehicular load on Delhi’s roads while ensuring that commuters do not face inconvenience in their daily travel, she said, adding, “Our aim is to enable a limited number of vehicles to serve the maximum number of passengers. Shared transport is central to effective pollution control and smoother traffic movement.”With fuel prices and worsening air quality major concerns for the people, the officials believe that affordable shared rides and electric mobility will have a direct connection with public expectations.

Another major area in focus is enhancing women’s participation in the taxi ecosystem. According to a decision taken at a meeting on Friday, govt wants the aggregators to increase the number of women drivers to provide safer and more reliable travel options to women passengers, while also creating new livelihood opportunities. Delhi govt also aims to crack down on polluting commercial vehicles by expanding its infrastructure of automated fitness testing centres. One at Jhuljhuli is already operational and tests around 70,000 vehicles annually, while the one at Burari is being upgraded. Two more units at Nand Nagri and Tehkhand are expected to be operational by March next year. Together, these four centres will be able to test 2.5 to 3 lakh commercial vehicles annually. In addition, five new automated fitness testing stations will be set up at DTC depots in Bawana, Ghazipur, Savda Ghevra, GTK Depot and Dichaon Kalan, for which approvals have been granted.