Uber bike taxi riders plying without permit, avoid wearing helmets to dodge police Pavneet Singh Chadha Mohali, August 17 Uber’s partner drivers, who had launched the bike taxi service ‘Uber Moto’ on July 25 with much fanfare, have been flouting norms by running two-wheelers without a permit. Going by the account of certain driver partners (with whom this correspondent spoke on the issue), the Chandigarh Police have no problem with the violation. “On being caught, we give them Rs 50-100 and they let us go,” said a driver partner. However, youngsters, who are into the business, claimed that they had to take the risk of running the taxis in Chandigarh as they get most of their business here. They claimed that even their company ‘supported’ them in this illegal act. “Company officials have assured us that they will bear all penalties in case the police/STA challaned them,” they said. Recently, a driver’s bike was impounded by the authorities for three days. “Our company compensated him by paying appropriate amount that he was supposed to earn in a period of three days,” said Ramesh (name changed), another partner driver. The permit only allows them to ply two-wheeler taxis in Mohali, Zirakpur and Kharar. In Panchkula, the service is not available. If the destination is the Chandigarh international airport in Mohali, the bike service option disappears from the application. “In Mohali area, there are a handful of customers so everybody prefers running the taxis in Chandigarh, which offers better opportunities,” said Iqbal (name changed), a driver partner. Even after 22 days of the launch of the scheme in Mohali, the company is yet to take required permission from the UT Administration in this regard. “Earlier, we were concerned about it (UT permission), now nobody is bothered for obvious reasons,” said the driver partners. A senior official of the STA said challans were being issued to violators, but he did not provide any data in this regard. “It’s illegal. Uber has submitted an application to get the permission, but no decision has been taken so far,” said the official. As per norms, the drivers have to wear orange helmets, but they do not adhere to the rule to avoid being recognised by the authorities. Despite repeated attempts, Uber could not be reached.

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