SHILLONG, July 8: The chairman of the Regional Transport Authority, East Khasi Hills on Friday issued an order under the Meghalaya Taxi Aggregator Operational Rules, 2020, directing all taxi aggregators and bike-taxi service providers (like Rapido and Uber) to register and apply for a licence prior to launching operations.
The notice has come in the wake of complaints that bike-taxis were operating without such license or without valid documents, following which the Regional Transport Authority headed by the deputy commissioner had instructed the District Transport Officer and the Member Secretary to direct all existing operators and interested licensees to register in order to ensure compliance to all provisions of the said rules with respect to drivers’ profile, vehicle fitness, safety norms, approved fare, parking requirements, helpline for passengers, emission standards and feedback mechanism, as spelled out.
The notice also says that the driver will not pick up passengers by street hailing.
A timeline has been given for existing and prospective operators to comply with the rules.
Incidentally, the notice was issued as a corrigendum to a previous order issued by the Regional Transport Authority Board of East Khasi Hills. The previous order prohibited the use of motorcycle from operating as taxi service in both online or offline modes for the purpose of ferrying passengers.
