MoRTH Proposes Rent a Cab Reforms, Fleet Floor Cut to 5

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has placed a set of proposed reforms for the Rent a Cab business, with the stated aim of making such a business easier to start and run, giving renters more choice and tightening passenger safety. The framework pairs lighter procedure with stronger customer support.

A smaller fleet is now enough

The floor for the fleet drops from 50 vehicles to 5, with a minimum of 2 cabs at each place of operation. An operator may rent out cabs either with a driver or without one. The old condition of maintaining branches in five tourist cities goes away, which removes a heavy cost for a small operator.

One licence instead of many

A single electronic licence, valid across the whole State or Union Territory at a uniform fee, replaces the earlier arrangement of a main licence plus separate branch licences. Approved places of operation may now include airports, railway stations and bus terminals.

Clocks on the approval

Grant and renewal of a licence are to be decided within a proposed 60 days. For adding or dropping cabs or places of operation, a deemed-approval route of 30 days applies, so a file left unattended no longer stalls the business. Electronic VAHAN registers and automatic pulling of data are meant to cut the paperwork an operator files.

Safety and the passenger's side

Cabs must carry location tracking and first-aid kits, with child restraint systems kept optional. Every operator has to run a website, offer grievance support round the clock, and arrange emergency repairs and towing when a vehicle breaks down.

Drivers and enforcement

A driver supplied by the operator would need police verification, and such drivers come under the welfare cover of the Code on Social Security, 2020. If specified serious offences are committed involving a cab or an operator-provided driver, the validity of the operator's licence is shortened. On the enforcement side, an operator gets time to correct violations that are not material before suspension or revocation is weighed, and a fresh appellate mechanism with electronic hearings has been added. States and Union Territory transport authorities will oversee the rollout, with renters, operators and drivers as the groups affected.