Karnataka govt bans Ola, Uber carpooling service

Bengaluru, June 29: The Karnataka government has directed cab aggregators Ola and Uber to disable their car-pooling services with immediate effect for violating transport rules.

The direction to Ola and Uber was given during the closed-door meeting with the representatives of Cab aggregators and cab drivers. Both cab aggregators have now been asked to comply with the rule, failing which, action will be taken.

Karnataka Transport Department Commissioner VP Ikkeri said carpooling services are not permissible under the present transport rules and should be stopped immediately.

"Ola and Uber have to follow the licence rules and any additional feature should be introduced only after getting the backing of the law," he said.

In March last year, the Karnataka government has suspended the licence of Ola Cabs (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) for six months with immediate effect, alleging that the ride-hailing company had been running two- wheeler taxis in violation of the law.

Ola and Uber, the two main ride-hailing companies, were issued licences in 2016 under the 'Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016', which were formulated after prolonged legal battles.

With over 10,000 cabs in Karnataka, the Ola provides services in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubli and Bengaluru.