Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad RTO on Tuesday issued notices to Rapido, Ola and Uber over using non-commercial private vehicles, primarily two-wheelers, to offer rides. The ride service aggregators have been asked to respond to the RTO in seven days with a satisfactory answer on why their aggregator licence should not be suspended or cancelled.The central premise of all three notices is the issuance of aggregator licences for specific categories of commercial vehicles, such as taxis, autorickshaws, or commercially registered two-wheelers. According to the notices, the RTO found that aggregators were offering services through vehicle categories for which licences have not been issued.The notice to Ola’s operator, ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, questioned its use of private motorcycles for paid rides. The RTO says Ola’s licence covers autorickshaws, taxis and commercially registered two-wheelers.Likewise, Uber India Systems Pvt Ltd faces similar questions over its bike-taxi services. The notice to the operator says the company’s licence covers only autorickshaws and four-wheel taxis, but notes that its app also offers rides on privately registered motorcycles.Rapido’s operator, Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd, faces questions over both bike-taxi and four-wheel taxi services. The notice states that its licence only covers transport-category auto rickshaws but alleges that the platform also aggregates privately registered motorcycles and taxis.The notices point to violations of the Motor Vehicle Aggregators Guideline 2020, along with other transport department rules and regulations. Notably, state-based auto unions have opposed ride aggregators’ use of two-wheeler taxis.
