Road Ministry Mandates Cab Aggregators to Offer Female Driver Option During Ride Booking

The Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines 2025 mandate same gender driver options where available, implement transparent tipping rules, cap dynamic pricing, and set conditions for licence suspension to balance passenger safety with driver welfare across Indian cab platforms.

The ministry of road transport and highways has issued fresh rules under the Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines, 2025, requiring cab aggregators to add a same-gender driver choice, enable transparent tipping for drivers, and follow strict pricing norms, with penalties, to improve passenger safety and driver welfare while keeping fares within regulated limits.

The new amendments state: "The App shall include a feature to enable Clause 15.6, wherein a passenger may choose, where available, a driver of the same gender, including an option for female passengers to select a female driver for undertaking a journey," making gender-based selection a mandatory app feature wherever such drivers are available on the platform.

Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines 2025: Gender choice and passenger safety focus

The gender-selection requirement targets safety concerns, especially for female passengers booking night or long-distance rides, and is designed to work only when drivers of the same gender are listed on the platform, so cab aggregators must update app interfaces, back-end systems, and training protocols to support this feature reliably across Indian cities.

The guidelines link this safety focus with driver welfare, particularly through tipping rules, which state: "The provision should not be available at the time of booking, before the commencement of the journey or during the journey," and further clarify: "The entire tip amount shall be credited to the driver without any deduction by the aggregator," while also prohibiting any "tipping feature or mechanism" that is misleading or manipulative.

Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines 2025: Dynamic pricing rules and fare protections

Earlier, on July 1, the ministry notified the broader Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines, 2025, which allowed dynamic pricing but within defined bands, permitting aggregators to reduce fares by up to 50% below the state-notified base fare while limiting surge pricing during peak hours to a maximum of twice that base fare.

The Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines, 2025 also set out grounds for suspending or cancelling an aggregator’s licence, including cases where passengers face unjustified fares or dynamic pricing beyond notified limits, and they specify that “dead mileage” cannot normally be billed, except when the pick-up distance is under three kilometres, with charges applying strictly from origin to destination.

The ministry states that the combined package of gender-based driver choice, capped dynamic fares, clear tipping rules, and restrictions on dead mileage charges under the Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines, 2025 aims to balance passenger security, transparency in pricing, and fair income conditions for drivers operating on app-based cab platforms across India.