Bengaluru: Karnataka Government has suspended Ola cab services for a period of six months in the city. The state transport department has suspended the cab aggregator's licence.
The reason behind the suspension of the cabs are alleged violation of the licence conditions for running bike taxis and also violating government rules.Ola company was only granted permission for commercial use of cars but according to the department of transportation ola company introduced bikes taxi services. Commercial usage of bikes is breach of aggregators licence.
Responding to this notice, Ola issued a company statement saying: "Ola is a law-abiding company that has always worked with the Government to develop livelihoods, improve mobility, and enable a new technology industry. We are evaluating all options to find an amicable solution wherein hundreds of thousands of driver-partners in the state of Karnataka can continue to work and serve the mobility needs of our citizens We have been closely working with the authorities on this topic, responding to queries and making proactive representations to the ministry. Despite other companies continuing to operate illegally, Ola halted our bike taxi experiment weeks ago, instead seeking the state’s cooperation to develop a legal framework for a pilot that will continue to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the mobility economy."
In Bengaluru alone there are around 35000 ola cab drivers. By today's licence suspension Bengaluru based ola drivers now jobless. Most of the drivers are still confused and feared.
This notification is unfortunate, and we look forward to an opportunity to address these concerns directly with state officials to find a solution for our driver-partners and millions of Ola users in Karnataka."
