Nearly a month after two Ola Shuttle vehicles were seized by Karnataka Transport department for flouting the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Act, the department has now issued a notice to cab aggregator Ola.
According to an Economic Times report, the Transport Department has issued a notice asking why its licence to operate cab services should not be revoked for flouting the licence conditions.
The Transport Department has pulled up Ola for offering shuttle services in Bengaluru which, according to the department, has violated the conditions on which the licence was granted.
HG Kumar, Additional Transport Commissioner told ET that the punishment could either be a penalty of Rs 10,000 or suspension of all its services. Ola has been given 15 days to respond to the notice.
As per the ET report, officials say that the department has seized about nine vehicles of Ola that run shuttle services near Manyatha Tech Park, Jayanagar and Koramangala.
The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has been complaining to the Transport Department against the aggregator running shuttle services. A tech startup ZipGo was also running similar services in the IT corridor and has to withdraw after the transport department seized its vehicles too.
These servies, as per the BMTC officials, were eating into its revenues as companies like Ola were operating services in places that have a high revenue potential.
Kumar told ET that only BMTC buses are entitled to run such services. “In Bengaluru, BMTC has the exclusive right to offer shuttle services as it has the stage-carriage permit,” he added.
Cab aggregators like Ola and Uber have been marred by such issues. While Uber has been having a run in with officials regarding its private ride-sharing customers, both cab aggregators are also struggling to retain drivers on board.