Thiruvananthapuram: The central government has allowed corporate companies to operate buses on any route without permit. An official order regarding this was issued the other day along with the guidelines of online taxi service.
A letter sent to chief secretary of the Ministry of road transport and highways has informed that the state governments can issue a similar order as per the central government order.
Any type of vehicle can be operated by levying a rent via online. With this, those who obtain aggregator license will be allowed to operate buses on any route after issuing online ticket. Meanwhile, it is alleged that the new amendment issued to control online taxi service will destroy public transport firms like KSRTC.
Earlier, a legislation was proposed to control online taxi services as per the central motor vehicle amendment act. Following this, the central government has issued the new order.
With this, inter-state luxury bus operators will be able to take service on any route after taking aggregator license. The apps and online booking facilities used by these operators were also legalized.
Qualification of drivers and other employees were also determined. Training classes, health check-up and insurance are mandatory for the staff. The passengers will be asked to rate the service of drivers.
Rs 5 lakh is collected as a license fee for 5 years. Companies which have 100 buses and 1000 other vehicles should pay Rs 1 lakh as security deposit. Companies registered under cooperative societies act are also allowed to apply for the license.
Either state government or agencies assigned should issue the license. Private vehicles will be allowed to take service for passengers with the approval of the state government.
Online Aggregator Policy legalizes the private buses which operate service on inter-state routes.
With the implementation of the online aggregator policy, the current permit system will be irrelevant soon.
Many bus operators with contract carriage permit have violated route bus permit rules by operating service with a special ticket. Observing this, the Motor Vehicle Department has taken action against such bus operators. But with the new policy, the department will not be able to check such illegal moves.
Higher officials in MVD have reported that a decision will be taken after discussing the matter with legal experts.
